Blending Photos into a Background

A gal emailed me a couple of weeks ago asking about how to blend a photo into the background. So I’m going to show you how I do it. I’m using PSCS4, but you the steps should be the similar in PSE (except where noted).

Credits: background from All for One by SSD Designers, font Ian Jude

1. Choose your photo and your background. In my limited experience, solids work best.

2. Change the blend mode — try several different ones to see which you like. You’ll also want to adjust the opacity.

3. If you don’t like how any of the blend modes looked, try turning the photo black and white. I turned my photo black & white by choosing the Hue/Saturation adjustment level, and sliding the saturation all the way to the left. I decided I liked the photo best with Linear Burn.

4. Arrange the photo. With a technique like this, because you’re blending into the high resolution background and adjusting the opacity, you can get away with stretching the picture bigger. In any other setting, I wouldn’t recommend stretching your picture.

5. Add a layer mask. (If you use PSE, read this trick to fake a layer mask.)

6. Choose a LARGE round brush with 0% hardness. You’ll also want to adjust the brush opacity. Make sure your color chips are set to the default — black foreground, white background. (CTRL+D)

7. With the layer mask active, brush on your photo. You’ll probably need to adjust the opacity and size of the brush a few times to achieve the look you’re wanting. It definitely takes some trial and error. (When the black color chip is in the front, you’ll “erase” parts of your picture. If you mess up or don’t like how it looks, hit X to switch the foreground and background, and now (with the white color chip in front) paint back over it. Your picture will “reappear.” Painting on a mask is the safest way to do this method, ’cause you can switch back and forth between erasing and painting the picture back.)

8. Continue brushing until it looks the way you want it. You can also adjust the layer’s opacity some more as well.

9. Finish your layout. I just added some text.

Here are some other examples of layouts I’ve done using this technique.

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Hope you found this tutorial helpful! Have fun playing with blending modes and layer masks. If you use this technique on a layout, I’d love to see your creation.