Blending Photos

We are going to replace the background behind a subject, but we will also have the model take on the texture and characteristics of the wall. Step 1: First, using an image of a rather grumpy looking dude from Photospin.com.

Step 2: Set up the layers palette as follows. First, copy of the background so remove the man from the background without messing with the ackground layer. !ext, create a new layer between the two with the model present and fill it with black.

Step 3: !ow we are going to conform a texture to the man"s frame, and to do such # will be using a displacement map. #"ll go ahead and create that now. #f you are following along, go ahead and duplicate the lue $hannel in the channels palette.

Step 4: #n this step we are going to bump up the contrast of the new channel in a couple ways. First, use the Shadow%&ighlights filter on the channel. 'y settings are shown below.

Step 5: (s with most displacement maps, this will need some blur applied. (pply a )aussian lur as seen here.

Step 6: #n step*+ bump up the contrast a bit on the channel. 'y settings are seen below.

Step 7: ,nce satisfied with the displacement map, save it to a new file, name it, and save it to your hard drive.

Step 8: $lose the map once it has been saved. -eturn to the original image and delete the lue $opy channel. .ou won"t be needing it any more.

Step 9: -eturn to the layers palette. /sing your favorite selection tool, select the man separate from the background. #n this step used the magic wand tool with (dd 0o Selection turned on, selected the background, then inverted the selection.

Step 10: ,nce your selection has been made, click the (dd a mask icon on the bottom of the layers palette. 0he background will disappear to reveal the black layer beneath.

Step 11: !ow open a background image that is fairly close to the si1e of the original photo. #n this case # am going to use a stone wall 2or perhaps a stone path3 as my pattern of choice. 0his image is also available at Photospin.com.

Step 12: 'ake a copy of the stone image and paste it into a new layer beneath the top most layer with the man present, but above the black layer. 4on"t worry if the image is smaller than the original as seen here5 we can fix that in a bit.

Step 13: 4uplicate the wall layer and place the new instance of the wall at the top of the layer stack.

Step 14: For this top layer, go ahead and use the 6dit 78 0ransform 78 Scale function to increase the si1e of the layer so that the entire image is covered.

Step 15: $ommand%$ontrol9$lick the mask on the man layer to generate the selection again. -un the 4isplace filter with the settings seen below on the selection.

Step 16: Select the inverse and hit the 4elete key. 0his will wipe away the extra stone, leaving only the man covered. $hange the lending 'ode for this layer to ,verlay. 0he results can be seen below so you can check your progress.

Step 17: !ow use the transform tools to increase the si1e of the stone layer behind the man.

Step 18: 4uplicate the top layer and change the blending mode for the new layer to Soft :ight. 0his just helps enhance the features of the stone on the man.

Step 19: (djust the Saturation of the Soft :ight layer, decreasing the Saturation to *;< or so.

Step 20: -educe the saturation of the ,verlay layer also, but only adjust this to about *+<.

Step 21: We can still tone this down a bit further. $reate a &ue%Saturation adjustment layer just above the man.

Step 22: .ou should be getting a fairly decent blend of the subject with his background.

Step 23: (s a result of using the 4isplace tool, some stretching of pixels has occurred on the stone*man layers. #f this is the case, first select the stone*man overlay layer, and clean up these stretch marks around the eyes, lips and edges by taking samples of unstretched stone with the &ealing rush and applying the pattern to the stretched areas.

0he image shows the man after the clean*up process.

Step 24: :ast things to do is reveal the eyes and lips again. 0o do this simply create masks for the stone*man layers and paint over those areas with lack in their respective masks.

Step 25: Final thing, some shadow would do nicely to make him stand out from the background just a bit. /sing the urn 0ool on the stone background and running it around the man"s shoulders and head should work nicely. 'y urn 0ool settings are seen here5

The final image is seen here: