Fun with Merging Images

Earlier this month, I agreed to work with a High School art student on a collaborative project, to create a really cool yearbook photo. As part of this, I took some time to work with merging images.

As a test, I started with a base image of myself, recently taken on another collaborative project. At this point, I'm just another middle-aged loser:

First, I erased the background using a simple pixel-level photo editor. The result is a very dorky looking middle-aged loser:

Then, I cranked up the contrast, just past the point of over-modulation, and reduced the saturation to remove all color, leaving this black and white image. It looks a lot like that surveillance photo the FBI never took of me. During the year that I was never in Central America. Coolness began to set in. I began to feel dangerous and accepted:

Finally, using the Philip Hayden's freeware program "merge 2.0", I added background art from my own collection to actually (almost) become transcendently cool:

Now, I do in fact feel unusually cool, not so dork-like, and possibly ready to be on an album cover even though I don't know how to play music.

The probability still remains high, however, that I'm still clueless about most things going on around me. That may take some more work...

Thanks for letting me share.

Chris