I have a photo from the holidays that us perfect with everyone nicely smiling, except my mom. I have another photo from the same session where she is smiling nicely.
My goal is to take the smiley face of my mom and overlay it onto the target photo.
There are a few ways to do it. If you are not experienced with photo editing, the easiest way is probably to use the Photomerge Group Shot Guided Edit. It only takes a couple of clicks.
What version of Elements do you have? In Elements 2025, the Guided Edit is under the Combine tab:
Simply drag the photo with the group smiling from the photo bin to the right-hand window. Drag the smiling mom photo to the left. Then use the pencil tool to draw around mom's head. You will end up with something like this:
I would also suggest that you use the Enhance>Adjust Color>Remove Color cast menu and click on the grey carpet to adjust the white balance of the photo.
You can also make a Levels adjustment to improve the tone.
With a few other adjustments you will get something like this: