[St Stephan]

I'm at something of a loss as to what to say here, because - like every other word in the language - morph takes its meaning from usage.  But I see my name taken in vain   in a couple of places here, so I'll just add a couple of thoughts.  

Nick, you have it plenty erudite when you say

In reply to:
    If I recall correctly, the word "morph" doesn't even really match its conventional usage; it's used to mean change or alter, but it really means "form" or something like that. The "meta" in metamorphisis is the actual change part of the word, but everybody uses it that way

 except, of course, that it's "metamorphosis").  Yes, morfh (morphê, in case your browser doesn't show that right) is Greek for "form" or "shape"; meta (meta) is a preposition with various translations, here "beyond" is probably appropriate, so "beyond the form". Transform is the Latinate equivalent.  

But I would say that "morph" has taken on a more specific meaning than "transform": it means "transform a digital image by manipulating the pixels with a computer".  So I wouldn't say that Dali or Magritte morphed reality, though we could say they transformed it in their pictures.

I don't like the word "warp": to me it has connotations of unplanned and unwanted distortion (remember what we mean by "a warped mind").

Any engineered change - size, color, transparency - of groups of pixels is morphing.  At this site we deal with breast morphing, but of course any part of the body (or anything in the image, any group of pixels) can also be morphed. In fact, I have done several morphs which probably would pass (and have passed) as on-topic here even though I didn't touch the breasts: I only reduced the waist and perhaps some other body parts, thus making the breasts relatively larger.

No one has mentioned the useful word "graft" for the rather different process of pasting in breasts (or a head or something else) from another picture.  I contend that this is different because the pixels are simply superimposed, not modified (transformed).  But this is a rather pedantic and unimportant distinction (and, of course, some modification -  morphing - is always necessary to adapt the transplant to its new environment.  Certainly such grafts are as welcome here as standard morphs.)

OK, enough wind  (I had Mexican food and beer for supper - really).

0 ( _{( o} ^! < J
Thanks & a tip of the halo to Tom Taylor for drawing my avatar - now with almonds animation.  

[St Stephan]

And as for you, Blax, I crave revenge!

In reply to:
  St. Stephan?...well St. Stephan sucks.
   

...ebbè, anche la tua moglie è un pez ad gnocca, becc  :



0 ( _{( o} ^! < J
Thanks & a tip of the halo to Tom Taylor for drawing my avatar - now with almonds animation.

   

[Blax12]

 
As long as you thought I was from Palermo, and due to the fact that you are insinuating I'm cornuto, take this sicilian menace:

Minchia, fituso! Te 'ntacco a fazza!

Blax12
   

[Imaginos]

Morphing, as has been said by others in different ways, is nothing more the Photomanipulation.

There are a variety of sub categories of Photomanipulation such as Fakirs who do **29** fakes, head grafts, face grafts, body changes, clothing changes-removal, etc..

I do belive the term Morph was used here because you were "transforming" the girl from small chested to quite well endowed. It comes from the word Metamorphosys. Or a transformation, like a catapillar to butterfly.

Photomanipulation has gone on to mean more then just altering a photograph. Drawings, CG renders, Photos etc... these are all photomanipulated or these days digitally altered.

First photomanipulations were along the lines of playboy and the airbrush

Here is a dictionary definition for you:

met·a·mor·pho·sis   Pronunciation Key  (mt-môrf-ss)
n. pl. met·a·mor·pho·ses (-sz)
 

 
 
• A transformation, as by magic or sorcery.  
   
• A marked change in appearance, character, condition, or function.  
   
• Biology. A change in the form and often habits of an animal during normal development after the embryonic stage. Metamorphosis includes, in insects, the transformation of a maggot into an adult fly and a caterpillar into a butterfly and, in amphibians, the changing of a tadpole into a frog.  
   
• Pathology. A usually degenerative change in the structure of a particular body tissue.  
   

Imaginos