Instructions for creating an animal morph:

1. Decide which animal will be your base that you will build on.
2. Open your background and animal in Photoshop.
3. Use the quick selection tool, or the lasso tool to select your animal:
a. Quick Selection tool:
i. Click and drag your mouse over the area you wish to select. (In most cases it is easier to select the
background first, then inverse the selection to your animal, if the background is simple. If the background is busy, it is
probably easier to select your animal first.)

ii.

Do this in small increments so you dont select too much! (if you select more than you want. That
is okay.
b. To add to your selection, at the top of your
page, click on the + icon. (see below)
c. To remove from your selection, click on
the icon (see below)
d. To change the size of your selection brush,
click on the size icon next to the icon (see
below)

e. If you need to select the inverse, then at the top menu bar click on Select > Inverse.
f. To soften the selection edge, clock on Select > Refine Edge and bring the feather slider up a little bit, for a
smooth edge.
4. Now you can use the Move Tool to click in your animal and drag it onto your background file. Then use Edit > Free
Transform (holding shift) to resize, rotate and position the animal on the page properly.

5. Open your next animal file.

Repeat the previous steps to
select the portion of the animal
you will need for the morph. (Its
okay if you select a little more
than needed. You need a little
extra to blend).

6. Now that you have your other animal onto your background file, place it where it needs to be to look like they are
one animal.

7. Now, we will use a mask to blend the animals together to look more realistic.
a. Click on the layer of the animal part you wish to blend. Add a mask
to that layer.
b. Now you can use the gradient tool to create a gradient where the
animals fit together.

c. Click on the gradient tool in your tool box and look at the top tool bar. The gradient color should be black
on the left and white on the right

d. Click your mouse on the edge of where you want to blend and drag your mouse in toward the inside of the
animal. You are making a gradient on the mask that will make it appear to fade out, showing the animal
beneath it.

e. Now do this with all animal parts to be added. (Try to line up the edges of the animals, so it looks natural.)

f.

Now get rid of any extra animal parts that are not
needed (in my example I need to erase the seagull
wings and beak).
i. Put a mask on the layer to erase, then use the
brush tool on black foreground color to erase
what you dont want.

g. The colors on your animal parts may be off and not look natural (on mine, the white of the horse and the
seagull are different).
i. Select which layer you wish to
modify the color.
ii. Duplicate layer
iii. On the top menu bar click Image >
Adjustment > Color Balance
iv. (You may also adjust Levels, curves,
exposure, Hue/Saturation if needed)
v. I adjusted the horse head to match
the seagull and gave them both a
blue hue because they are supposed
to be in the water. I also adjusted
the wings to make them blue to
match better.
h.
i.
j.
k.
l.

Now use the text tool to add the name of the animal, along with a description.
Add your watermark
Save as a PHOTOSHOP document
THEN SAVE AS A .JPG
Turn in the .jpg on Google Classroom.