Add A Person Into A Bubble – Photoshop Tutorial – Combine Two Photos Together

Adding A Person Into A Bubble – Combining Two Photos Together – Merging Two Photos – Photoshop Composite – Photoshop Tutorial

This is going to look long at a glance but it’s actually not hard to do at all.. it looks long because I took a screen shot of every move to help out beginners.. When I was trying to use Photoshop they would say “duplicate the layer”, assuming I knew how, and I didn’t.  So I prefer to be extra thorough :).

This is a tutorial on how to add two photos together.. in this one in particular, we’ll be adding a shot of me into a shot of a bubble.
This will be the final product:

These are the original images:

^That’s me BTW :).  Anyway, open both photos in Photoshop that you want to merge together.  Copy and paste the photo onto the other photo.. in this case I’m going to copy and paste the photo of me on top of the photo of the bubble.

^The photos are both from different cameras, and the bubble photo is smaller than the photo of me taking a picture (please ignore the lens cap :p I edited it out of the final edit!).  Anyway, so I need to make this file smaller.

^Back in the original file, I go to “Image” “Image size” and reduce the size of it and copy it again to bring over and paste.

^Now it is smaller but it’s too small.. this is easy to work with though…

^Select the marquee tool and click and drag it over the image

^Now it is selected..

^Right-click within the selection and select “free transform”

^Hold down the shift key which will retain the proportions of the image and click and drag the arrows to make the image bigger or smaller.

^Next, be sure that the top layer is clicked on, then click the little square towards the bottom of the layers palette (the layer mask tool) and click it.

^You now have a layer mask on your top layer!  This will allow you to add and subtract from the top layer via the paintbrush.  Select your paintbrush and be sure its color is set to black.

^Ensure your layer mask is clicked on and now you can paint on the image to make it disappear!

^The image after painting with the black paint brush.  But now I’ve removed too much of the image and need to bring some of it back..


^Turn your paintbrush white and paint wherever you’d like to bring the image back.

^Image after bringing back some of the image.. it still isn’t aligned perfectly because it’s hard to tell where the bubble is exactly.

^To gain the ability to see the bubble below it, reduce the opacity of the top layer.  The opacity determines how “see through” the top layer is.. by reducing the opacity we can see underneath it to better determine where the lines of the bubble are.

^At this point, you could be “done” if you wanted to be.. but if you want to perfect it more, there’s some additional steps.
First, reduce the opacity of your brush.. set it to around 5-15 and paint over very select spots to make it look more 3D (the paintbrush at such a low opacity will only take off a tiny bit at a time vs a lot at a time).  I chose to paint around the bubble (so there is less image on the outsides, so it’s strongest in the middle and most faded on the outside, helping it have the round appearance).  I also painted additionally off on the colorful lines of the bubble also to help show the shape of the bubble.

^Now it’s decently aligned (I ended up cleaning it up again later..).  This is a really good time to “save as .psd” so if you need to come back to it later, you can.

^Now, right click on your layer mask and select “apply layer mask”.

^Right click on your top layer and select “screen”.

^This was my final verdict on this edit.. top layer opacity 60% with a screen applied to it.  I still have a few things left to do..

^Right click on the top layer and select “flatten image”.

^Right click on your layer and select “duplicate layer”.  This will create a second layer.



^Ensure the top layer is clicked on and click the dropdown arrow and select “overlay”.  This will help blend, sharpen, and increase colors.

^I felt there were a few additional edits to be done so I took the final edit and layered it with the original, used the eraser tool to erase away some of the edges to give it more of a 3D look.  I used the burn tool around the diameter of the bubble and I also used Coffeshop Blog’s Perfect Portrait Action on this.. I used “Urban Grit” @ around 20% and “Eye Define” at around 50%.  If you do not know how to use layer masks with actions, I have a blog post explaining How To Run An Action With Layer Masks here.  I believe there is also a tutorial on Coffeshop Blog’s page.

^This is my final edit.  Not perfect & I think it’d look cooler if the photo I merged in were in color but oh well.. and hopefully this blog post gave you enough information to be able to do what you’re wanting to do!

If you have any additional tips or resources, leave them in the comments below :).

-Christine Ann
Duluth MN Photographer

Digital Backdrops

What is one great way to ruin a photo?  A wrinkled backdrop!  I recently did a session.. I had planned to use a non-wrinkled white backdrop but had to swap at the last minute.. it looked okay at a glance but when I pulled up my photos I quickly realized how wrinkled it really was.
When you have a wrinkled backdrop there are only a few things you can do: You can keep it wrinkled You can edit the wrinkles out (what most people do) You can use a digital backdrop I haven’t had much luck with digital backdrops in the past.  I feel they often times look very fake and cheesy.  However if you search long enough you can find ones that look more natural.  So much faster than editing the wrinkles out!  I will post a sample of my before and after photo using the straight out of camera image (I did edit a flyaway hair but everything else is unedited) and then the edited version with a digital backdrop, starting with the unedited.

^This is the original, unedited version.. notice the no good, wrinkley backdrop and how distracting it is.
^This is the edited version, used with a digital backdrop.  I could edit wrinkles out by hand but this method saved me a lot of time! If you would like to use a different, digital backdrop but don’t know how to do it I have a tutorial for changing backgrounds/doing face swaps here.

-Christine Ann Duluth Photographer {Website} {Facebook}

Instantly Improve Your Editing With Layer Masks

There are about 5 million different things you can do to edit a photo in Photoshop.  Some of the things you learn will be totally pointless and some will be invaluable.  I am going to brush up on one of the most valuable editing techniques (in my opinion):  how to add a layer mask to your layers and why they are important.  This will benefit you in so many ways!  And it is SO EASY! Learning new things in Photoshop is always intimidating but this is literally something you can do in a couple clicks.  (To summarize:  you layer 2 photos on top of each other, click the layer mask button, select a black or white paintbrush to hide/reveal the bottom image and that’s it!). Directions for adding a layer mask: Open up a photo in Photoshop.  Pick another photo to layer on top of it (you can just copy and paste it on top).  Click on the top layer so it is highlighted and then click the square with a circle inside it at the bottom of the layer palette (The layer palette is where you see all your layers towards the right side of Photoshop).  The icon I am referencing, if you hover your mouse over the top of it it will say “add layer mask”.  It looks like this: Click on the white box that appears next to your top layer. That’s it! You are done, you’ve applied a layer mask! Now how do you use it?  Also very easy.  Select the paintbrush icon and make the color that it paints white.  (Image below shows where to select the paintbrush and where to change the color of it at). Paint wherever you’d like to reveal the image below and you will reveal the image beneath it!  If you make a mistake simply change the “white” color of the brush to black and it brings back the original image. ^ Example Photos: Color photo on bottom, black and white photo on top, layer mask selected (you select it by just clicking on it), select the paintbrush and make it black and just start painting.. it will reveal the photo beneath it.  If you make a mistake and want to bring the black and white image back, simply turn it white, like in the second photo.  :). Boom.  Done :). This method is perfect for head swaps (place the new face underneath the one you want to change and reveal the photo below it).  It is also perfect for doing selective coloring (adding color to black and white images).  You can change the background of your photo by adding a nice background behind the image and masking the original background off.  You can edit things out like power lines by moving the bottom image a few centimeters to the right and masking  them out.  There are so many possibilities! TIPS: 1.  You can change the opacity of your brush.. so if you only want to kind of reveal the background but not entirely, just set the opacity of your brush 50% (vs 100% and it will only bring 50% of the background in and leave 50% of the original intact.  You can also build on it by changing it to 10% and doing another round, bringing it to 60% revealed).  It looks much  more natural if you build up in that way vs just doing it at 100%! 2.  If you right click on the “background” (the bottom) layer and select “layer from background” you “unlock” the layer and can now move it around.  You need to be sure to highlight (click on) this layer when you want to apply changes to it (such as moving it.  You can move it using the move tool).. and then when you want to apply the layer mask with the white and black brush, be sure to click the white box next to the top photo :).  Any changes you make will occur on whatever is highlighted in the layer’s palette. 3.  There is a learning curve to using layer masks in a realistic way.. such as when you get to the edges you need to make the brush smaller and that it really  helps to lower the opacity of the brush to blend it better.  But after a few rounds of practicing you’ll start learning how to do it better and better. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask! -Christine Ann [website] Duluth Photographer Christine Ann Photography Facebook Maternity, newborn, senior, wedding, family, children, portrait photography.