To overcome the difficulty and high cost of some specific isotopic targets, a substitution method was proposed to measure the cross section of the ( \(\gamma\) , n) reactions. Considering that the natural copper element ( \(^\text {nat}\) Cu) only has \(^{63}\) Cu and \(^{65}\) Cu isotopes, the \(^{65}\) Cu( \(\gamma\) , n) \(^{64}\) Cu reaction was taken as an example to test the substitution method. Using quasi-monoenergetic \(\gamma\) beams provided by the Shanghai Laser Electron Gamma Source (SLEGS) of the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF), \(^\text {nat}\) Cu( \(\gamma\) , n) was measured from \(E_\gamma =\) 11.09 MeV to 17.87 MeV. Furthermore, based on the \(^{63}\) Cu( \(\gamma\) , n) reaction measured using the same experimental setup at SLEGS, \(^{65}\) Cu( \(\gamma\) , n) \(^{64}\) Cu was extracted using the substitution method. The abundance variation of natural copper, showing a significant influence on the cross section, was also investigated. The results were compared to the existing experimental data measured by bremsstrahlung and positron annihilation in-flight sources, and the TALYS 2.0 predictions. The \(\gamma\) strength function ( \(\gamma\) SF) of \(^{65}\) Cu was obtained from the \(^{65}\) Cu( \(\gamma\) , n) data, and the reaction cross section of \(^{64}\) Cu(n, \(\gamma\) ) was further calculated.