multiple layers

[OceanRider]

hey all.

I have looked far and wide for a simple explanation on how to do something in PS, but cant find it.

I want to make one picutre using 2 or more pictures. The over all effect would be feathered/overlapping pictures that make a one pic collage. Like say you wanted to put 4 pics of a favorite pet on one pic, with some pics very faint in the back ground and some feathered out of nowhere.

I know I have to use layers, but cant seem to get it all all. I have PS elements and Zoom brower ( which has a nice stich feature but it mainly just does edeg to edge with 100% overlaping. I wish I had an example to show you, but I dont.

Does nayone know of any online tutorials or have a simple step by step way do it?

Any help would be greatly appreaciated

joel

[CyberPet]

Well, you drag the different pictures on to the one document, they will get their own layers. Then you can use a mask, or use a soft brush (or a feathered selection) to "fade" one picture into the other. Give it a try!

[RAitch]

Check here:
http://www.photoshopelementsuser.com/tutorials/t_introtolayers2.php
http://www.graphic-design.com/Photoshop/montage/

It's amazing what google will find.
http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=%22photoshop+elements%22+tutorial+collage&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

Add all of your images by dragging and dropping like CyberPet mentions then using the transform tools to adjust the size. Hold shift to maintain the aspect ratio.

With everything on it's own layer, you can change which ones are on top and adjust the transparancy. Changing blend modes can produce some pretty cool results.

The best results will come from your own work, so you can get what you want and are in control. Play play play and learn learn learn.

[OceanRider]

thanks for the link.....looked promising at first, after 2 hours, still could not figure it out. It did not have enough steps, things did not work like they said it would. For example after drag and dropping the 2 pic into the main back ground pic, the next step was to move the little one to a corner and resize it....this went well. Then to soften the edges, I had to feather. I was not able to click "feather" until I selected some portion of the little pic, then feather was an option, once clicked, nothing happened! The circluar pattern appeared and got smaller on selected 2 nd pic but no feather. Nothing I could do would "fad" this pic at all. I am stumped!

[RAitch]

Oh, so you have a background image and you want to put a couple smaller images on top? Then you want the edges to softly transition into the background image?

OK, to do this, get each of your images on their own layer and size them appropriately. Then add a layer mask (button at the bottom of the layer pallete - square with a circle in it) to each of the layers.
When the mask is filled with white, it will reveal the layer contents. Black will conceal. (white reveals, black conceals)
Get a soft brush, select the mask, and start painting with black.

You can also try filling the layer with black and painting white to reveal the image. You might have a hard time finding where your image is though.
ALT-click the mask button to create it filled with black, or add a mask, and use the fill command to fill with black.

With a soft brush, you'll get some nice feathering results. With the paintbrush, you're in control of the shape. You can also use the gradient tool to produce geometrical shaped transitions.

I hope that'll help.

[Baadil]

Are you looking for something like this???

[OceanRider]

EXACTLY! Cheers!!

[OceanRider]

well tried to recreat this for hours.... but got nothing. I have element 2.0, maybe thats the problem!?

ahhh

[CyberPet]

Elements 2 should work with layers, if I'm not mistaken. So it must be something else. Have you found the layer palette in Elements?

[OceanRider]

Thanks all for ur help. After several more hours of playing, I did figure out what I needed to know to make something nice. Thanks again.

Joel

[scottbergerphoto]

Elements 2 should work with layers, if I'm not mistaken. So it must be something else. Have you found the layer palette in Elements?
Elements doesn't have layer masks.

[CyberPet]

No, but Elements have layers and you can use blending modes and you can use opacity. Should get you a good deal on the way for a collage. I think the feather lets you do 250 pixles, so that should be blend enough in most cases.

[PhotosGuy]

Elements doesn't have layer masks. It still has quick mask, doesn't it?

[OceanRider]

No, but Elements have layers and you can use blending modes and you can use opacity. Should get you a good deal on the way for a collage. I think the feather lets you do 250 pixles, so that should be blend enough in most cases.

Yes I can do 250...but I am having a small problem.

Even feathering with the full 250, I can still see the faint outline of the inserted pictures square edges. I vingetted the pic, then feathered the vignette so it looks great, but when you place it in the background picture, on LIGHT colured backgrounds, you still see the square outline of original pic.

Any ideas how to get ride of this?

[Baadil]

Could you please post a sample of what you have done so far?

[prime80]

I'd suggest heading over to Best Buy and picking up Photoshop Elements 3. Then, you should have all of the tools you need to do what you want to do. It's on sale right now for $59 if you can swing it. It's a VAST improvement over PSE2.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=6850838&type=product&id=1093468274429

[RAitch]

Can't you just use a soft eraser around the edges of the layer since you don't have masks? Just touch up the edges and you should be fine.

[PhotosGuy]

Can't you just use a soft eraser around the edges of the layer since you don't have masks? Just touch up the edges and you should be fine. I always had a problem getting a smooth line & found that using a selection was better for me. Add feathering & I think you'll get better results, + you can save the selection as a channel in PS.
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=39994

[RAitch]

Agreed... but the problem here is the selection with feathering isn't getting the results desired.
Does Elements have path support? If you're having problems getting a smooth line, why not use the pen tool to define a path and stroke it?

I'm starting to wonder why people are wasting money on elements... the people that don't just want to fix red eye, resize, and apply a couple filters. I was never happy with PSE.... but I like tweaking stuff.

[OceanRider]

I figured out the problem: When u feather 250 pixles, it takes part of the pic right to the edge, (the square edges) leaving a visible line, just faintly but there. If you feather 1-15 pix its too hard and not appealing...but if you feather 35-65 pix it nicley blends the inserted pic into the back ground but cleaninly enough to not show square edges.


thanks for all ur help guys and gals as usual!

Cheeers.

Joel