Blending Images

Blending

Blending takes several photos and combines them to produce new works of art - this is where you can let your creativity shine!

First, you want to choose a few images to blend.

       

       

Then you need to choose a base image. A base image should have a relatively clear space to fit in other images. In this case, any of these images would work, but the base image will be the sailboats. So, in your Layers Window, your sailboats should be the background layer.

Copy and paste the picture of the conch shell onto the picture of the sailboats. This will create a layer with the conch shell image on top of the background. Double click on 'Layer 1' with the conch shell in the Layers Window to bring up the Layer Style Window.

Change the Blending mode of the layer to "Luminosity." You will notice that dark olive patches appear - we can erase these with the Eraser tool set at opacity 50, making sure to go around the spray of water. Then move the conch shell to the corner of the image, so that your blend looks like this:

Next, we will add the dolphin to the blend, making it swim among the clouds. To do this, we copy and paste the dolphin onto the blend to make it into a new layer. Switch the layer order so that the conch shell goes on top of the dolphins, then change the Blending mode option to "Overlay." You should get something like this:

And you have a basic blend! From here, you can add images, work with blending modes or colors and tweak your image to produce the effects you want.

Photoshop is a tool that you can use to express your creativity and taste. While this tutorial only taught you the basics, you can take it to the next level.

Sources

All images courtesy of Getty Images, Inc.