Following on from last month's feature article I've put together another small PhotoShop tutorial again dealing with layers. This time though we'll delve a little deeper into things we can do with layers. If you are planning to work along with me in this tutorial I would advise that you download the PSD file I started with ... click here to download the image ... it is 715Kb.

Okay ... if you have downloaded the PSD file and opened it then you will see the layers palette looks something like the image below ...

 

As you can see from looking at the layers palette there are four layers which are turned off, in other words the little "eye" icon is not visible next to each of these layers. These are four images of business men which I want to blend into the money oriented background to form a collage/montage effect. Experiment with turning these four layers on and off by clicking on the "eye" icon next to each individual layer. We are going to work with only one of these images at a time so make sure only the "man_plane" layer is turned "on" and the other three are "off". Click on the "man_plane" layer in the layers palette.

We are going to add a "layer mask" to this layer. Select the "ellipitcal marquee tool" from the tools palette and draw an ellipse around the man in the plane. Now click on the "Add Layer Mask" button at the bottom of the layers palette. Our man in the plane is now circular, he doesn't quite fit in though, so we are going to blend the layer in with the background. To do this, right click on the "man_plane" layer and select "blending options" from the drop down menu. Using the settings in the image below adjust your blend settings and watch our man in the plane blend into the background. Experiment with the "opacity" setting in the layers palette ... 80% works for me.

 

One down, three to go! Click on the "man_map" layer, notice the layer is turned "on" automatically. Select the "rectangular marquee tool" from the tool palette and draw a rectangle around the man with the map. Right click on the rectangular selection and select "Feather" from the drop down menu. Key in "5" and click "OK". Now click the "Add Layer Mask" button at the bottom of the layers palette and notice that this time there is no hard edge to your masked layer. This is because of the "feather" command. You should have something like the image below. Experiment with the "fill opactiy" in the layers palette and watch our map man blend in with the background.

 

Click on the "man_glasses" layer in the layers palette. Now select the "Polygonal Lasso Tool" from the tool palette. We are going to draw a triangular selection around the man with the glasses. Click on the point of the layer you want to be the top point of the triangle, then click on the bottom left-hand point, then the bottom right-hand point, then click on the top point again. You should end up with a triangular selection like the image here. Right click the selection and click "Feather", key in 10 and click "OK". If the triangular selection is not in the right position, click on the "Rectangular Marquee Tool" in the tool palette and move the selection around with your mouse until you are happy. Now click the "Add Layer Mask" button at the bottom of the layers palette. Our man with the glasses blends in with the background.

Click on the "man_pc" layer in the layers palette. I'm going to leave this last layer up to you to experiment with selecting, feathering, masking and blending. See what you come up with. My final image is below and as you can see I've moved the layers around and scaled one of them down. These are all things you covered in the previous tutorial ... experiment and have fun ... because the one thing I know about PhotoShop is that the only real way to learn it is to use it.