graphic software that can remove a beard from a face?

General Questions
#1

Is there any software out there that can remake a photo of a man’s face with a beard into a photo of the same face, but clean-shaven?

'Cause, you see, I know this guy who has had a beard for 25 years. Now some good friends (and his wife, who has never seen him without the beard) are trying to convince him he’d look better and younger if he shaves off the beard.

Is there software that does this realistically? (and cheaply, and easy-to-use-ly?)

On news stories about kidnapped children they use software that “ages” a face from an old photo.
Can I use something similar to remove the beard from a guy’s face?

#2

mmmm, Photoshop? GIMP (freeware). You have to learn how to use these tools though, and they’re not simple…

#3

No software is going to have a “remove beard” function. It’s going to take someone who is: A) Skilled at photoshop and B) A decent artist.

#4

Adding information to a photo is a whole lot easier than removing it. Think of it this way: You can teach a photo manipulation program how to draw hair, and you can have it find the edges of a person’s face and put hair there because it’s just drawing on top of what’s already there. But how do you feed it someone with hair and ask it to show you what’s underneath it? It can be done in a generic sort of way, but you’re unlikely to find it in consumer software. The best you’ll be able to do in most consumer products is cloning and healing.

Cloning is taking portions of an image from one place and painting them into another. Just about any half decent art program will have a clone feature.

Healing is more or less the same thing, but it also maintains the hue and tone map of the area you’re painting over, thus making it look more natural. I don’t know anything other than Photoshop that has a heal feature.

It would be difficult to explain the exact process of cloning and healing to “remove” (really, paint over) the hair on someone’s face, but I can say it is a painfully slow and tedious manual process with very little automation involved. I don’t know of any other way to do it.

The stuff you see on CSI or Law & Order? Pure Hollywood.

#5

okay, Ill check 'em out.
Obviously, I’ve heard of Photoshop, but I’ve never tried to use it. But I thought that, unless you’re a real pro, you can only do a few things with Photoshop–like cut and paste images, change colors, etc. I was thinking I needed some kind “smart program” like facial identity stuff the police use. Am I wrong?

#6

Yes. In order to replace a beard with a clean shaven face, you will need to be a skilled photo technician, and a damn good artist wouldn’t hurt.

#7

To echo what has been said, someone has to “guess” at what you look like without a beard and draw it in. My first thought was this might not be too hard if there are some reference pictures around without a beard, but that is not the case. If you have a thick beard who knows how your face, chin and jawline have changed over 25 years?

#8

And remember, Photoshop is pretty expensive, although Photoshop Elements is much less so. And as noted, ir really is not easy to learn everything.

All in all, it would be easier to have him shave the damn beard off. If nobody likes it, he can grow it back. :smiley:

#9

Or just do a photo cut and paste job, get a paper photo of him and paste someone else’s cut-out lower face and chin onto it!

#10

As I have aged this last ten years, I have added about 20 pounds of body weight. My face is now rounder, cheek bones almost disappeared. (My mustache hides my “Angelina” lips, to some extent.)

You can digitally remove the beard, but you might not show his double chin, if any. (Depending, of course, on how full he wears his beard right now.)

#11

Mr. AdoptaMom is 53 and has a very full, long beard that he grows to play Santa each year. Occasionally after Christmas he’ll shave his beard off and almost everyone comments on how much younger he looks - I think by at least 8-10 years.

The part I like best about him shaving his beard is that his very kissable neck and mouth become prominent features when he’s clean shaven; therefore I spend a lot of time nibbling on him - hubba hubba!! Perhaps your friend can persuade her husband with a few promises of what rewards may be in store for him :wink:

BTW- If they have young children/grandchildren: It takes awhile for the kids to synch up the voice that they’ve always known with the new face, but it does happen within a day or so.

#12

It only took me a month or so to grow back. It’s definitely cheaper and easier just to shave. He’s probably going to look freakish and scare the children, BTW.

#13

Don’t think you’re gonna buy Photoshop, and sit down and remove the guy’s beard. I’m an artist, and have years and years of Photoshop experience, and removing someone’s beard (especially if it’s long and obstructs the chin/jawline) would be not much more than guessing. Even with a pre-beard photo, chins and jaws change a lot in 25 years.

And by the way, lots of guys look better with beards. A beard tends to make the eyes stand out, and gives character to a face. Shaving it off will not necessarily make him look better or younger. Of course, YMMV. If he likes his beard, leave him alone.

#14

But… but they do it on CSI all the time!

#15

To really do this accurately, Photoshop isn’t enough. You’d need one of those 3-D head-modeling programs that reconstructive surgeons and forensics departments use: they start with the skull and add muscles, cover it all with fatty tissue and skin, and add hair. Then you’d have to load it with a model of the man’s head structure and everything.

Even something like Poser might serve to model a known head shape, but it probably wouldn’t be able to do the reconstruction. It might do dandy rendering the output from such a reconstructive program, though.

An experienced artist with pictures of the man beardless and skill in Photoshop might do almost as well for one 2-D image, though.

#16

As a dab hand with charcoal and a sketch pad, I once did this very thing - sketched a friend beardless - and did convince him to shave it off. If you’re no artist, I reckon hiring someone to do a sketch would be cheaper and quicker than all this fancy digital finangling. Best if you can get your subject to pose for it in person. That way, the sketcher can get a better idea of what lies beneath the foliage.

#17

I have grown & shaved off a beard several times in my 20s, 30s, and now late 40s. In each case people commented that getting rid of the beard made me look younger. Some liked the bearded look better, but all agreed that clean-shaven appeared younger.

I suppose somebody with graying hair & a non-graying beard might look older if the beard went away. But I don’t know that I’ve ever seen that combination except in a “Just for Men” ad.

#18

I have had a full beard since 1967 and my wife of 33 years has only seen me without it once for only 3 days! She laughed at my shaven appearance and I grew it back. I am bald on top, with normal side and back hair, mostly gray and white, presently in a short ponytail.
I do not intend to shave again.
Often grandkids and grand neices and nephews ask me why I have a beard, and I tell them I have a horrible scar from ear to ear and they would be scared of me if I shaved!

#19

I think your best bet – if you’re dead-set on trying to do this digitally – is to find a few photos of his father (or a male relative he is said to resemble), and pose the subject exactly as in the best of the old photos. Then use the male relative’s bare jawline and chin to cover up the subject’s bearded chin. {Add some Photoshop magic and CSI hand-waving here} Bingo! Just what he’d look like if shaven.

It’ll look ugly unless you really know what you’re doing, but it will be enough to give him an idea. A 10-pack of disposable razors are much cheaper and far more entertaining.