Blended Photo And Background Tutorial for CS3

I had a great suggestion for a tutorial from Lisa on how to do a soft blend of your photo into a background paper so that it looks like the picture is part of the paper.

So thank you Lisa for sending me the example and letting giving me a reason to play!!! LOL

To start with I choose a fairly neutral background (one without a lot of patterns on it will usually work best!) And I grabbed a photo that had some edges around it that could be erased.



Next I run through my blend modes (these are found on the layers palette)
While your photo layer is highlighted in the layers palette, choose a blend mode that you like. (I will show you a few different samples.

First here is the photo set to MULTIPLY



This one is SOFT LIGHT and I have duplicated the photo 3 times



THis is a combination of the 2. I have taken the photo and set it at SOFT LIGHT 3 times and then the top layer is set on MULTIPLY at an opacity of 20%.




Now if you are just using ONE photo layer then you can skip the next step. If you have choosen to do more than one photo layer like me. Then hit your GROUP button in your photo layer (looks like an empty file folder). This will add a GROUP to your layers palette. Then hold down your shift key and on the layers palette select all your photo layers and drag them into your folder layer. Your photo layers will now be indented in your layers palette because they are part of a group.




While your group folder is highlighted in your layers palette, go to LAYER>LAYER MASK>REVEAL ALL



Now while sitting on your layer mask. Choose your paint brush tool and choose a large soft brush (I am using a size of around 400, at an opacity of 100 and my paint color is black.) Where ever you paint BLACK on your mask your photos will NOT show through, these areas will be MASKED. Where ever your layer mask is WHITE these areas will show. Paint along the edges of your photo, reducing the opacity of your paint brush as needed to create a soft edge between your photo and the paper. Reducing the opacity and progressively working your way into the center of the photo will help create a smooth transition. This takes time and practice to master. Keep trying!! If its not right the first time. Delete your layer mask and start again! That is the great part of layer masks, your photos stay intact!!!

Here is a after a few minutes of painting on the black and reducing the opacity as I get closer to the edges of his body.



Here is after I have added some elements and reduced the opacity of the blended photo group.



Hope you enjoyed the tutorial! Be sure to share the link with me in the comments section if you try it so I can see your work of art!!!!

Happy Scrapping!!!! Mwaaahhhhh!!!!

DRAMATIC photo effects tutorial NOW for PS!

I have had lots of requests for a photoshop version of the tutorial I did for PSP that was published in Digital Scrapbooking Magazine. It can also be found at DSP HERE if you have Paint Shop Pro!

First open the photo that you want to enhance. I always copy my photo and make a new image and paste it, so that I am working on a copy of the photo and not the original.

Pre-work: If your photo is under or overexposed you can spruce it up a bit before we start the tutorial. Here are some simple hints: If your photo is overexposed and too bright, duplicate it and set the top layer to OVERLAY and adjust the opacity until it has good coloring. Merge your layers afterward.
If it is too dark (underexposed), duplicate it and set the top layer to screen, again adjust the opacity until you get decent coloring in your photo. Again merge your layers after this step if you choose to do this.



Now lets get started:
1. Duplicate your photo 3 times. While on the top layer choose IMAGE> Adjustments> Black and White. Dont change any of the settings. Just hit OK.
2. Duplicate the black and white layer. On the top most layer change the blend mode to COLOR. On the second to the top layer change the blend mode to MULTIPLY. If this causes your photo to be too dark, then you can adjust the opacity on the middle layer (that is set to MULTIPLY). You should now have 4layers.




Bottom Layer: color photo
Second Layer: Color photo copy
Middle Layer: Black and white version set to MULTIPLY
Top Layer: Black and White Version set to COLOR.

3. Merge the top 3 layers. Do this by holding down your shift key and in your layers palette select the top 3 layers. Right click in the layers palette and choose MERGE LAYERS.

4. Duplicate your merged layer. Set the TOP most layer to the blend mode of COLOR BURN and adjust the opacity to about 15-25%.
On the middle layer change the opacity to OVERLAY and adjust the opacity to 40-50%.




5. Merge all layers. Then duplicate your merged layers so that you have 2 copies of your current photo. On the top layer we are going to do some burning by hand.




6. Choose a soft brush set to a size of about 50-60 and choose range of shadows and exposure of about 10%. Darken up all the dark areas of the face and hair that you want to stand out. You want to exaggerate this, so make the areas darker than you normally would think. Set this layer to a blend mode of MULTIPLY and change the opacity to anywhere between 30-70% depending on the color of your photo and how dark you want it.

Take a small eraser brush set to about a size of 30, an opacity of 100% and a flow of 50% and erase an areas of the top layer that you want to stand out and be bright. For mine I usually do the irises of the eyes and sometimes the lips. Merge all your layers.

7. Duplicate the image. While sitting on the top layer go to IMAGE> Adjustments>Black and White. Leave all the settings the same but click TINT and change it to the following:
Hue: 42
Saturation: 15
CLICK OK.

8. Set your new sepia toned layer to OVERLAY and adjust your opacity to between 20-50% depending on the darkness of your photo. I adjusted mine down to 40%.

9. Merge layers.



10. Duplicate Layers.


11. While on the top layer got to FILTER>Sharpen>Unsharpen mask.
Change your settings to the following:
AMOUNT: 100%
RADIUS: 7.0 Pixels
THRESHOLD: 0
CLICK OK

Change the opacity of this layer to 60-70%.



At this point you can add your own details to the image. Maybe adding a small amount of color to the cheeks, dodging the eyes for some added POP. And then you are DONE!!! I hope you enjoyed this tutorial!!