Microsoft Research's GroupShot

Download Group Shot here.

GroupShot is an exciting new application from Microsoft research.  According to the Groupshot sample website, this application is intended to be used to use multiple shots of the same scene to create a perfected composite.  The idea is that if you have perfect smiles but an unwanted background object, that you can composite the two photos (perfect foreground, perfect background) to create a single (perfect) photo.

I had to take this amazing software for a test drive!

Download Group Shot here.

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From the Microsoft GroupPhoto Sample site

Step 1: Choosing the Photos

Groupshot excels at taking 2 similar photos, automatically aligning them, and allowing you to pick the best parts of each to create a final (hopefully perfect) composite.  I decided to experiment with these pictures:

Notice the bone in the background, but a nice, clean foreground.

The background is clear, his eyes are open, but the foreground has a bone in the way.

Step 2: Importing into Group Shot

From the GroupShot "File" menu, you can choose Import Images.  If you only select one image, you will get a warning:

It is really no big deal, and you can repeat this process to select the second image.  To avoid the message above, though, simply hold down CTRL and select a second image before clicking open.

Part 2