Can you help me blend these?

I've been trying to follow tutorials for the last hour and can't get any decent results. Any PhotoShop wizards want to help me blend these?

The smoke on this one is great:

So...you could use the bottom one as your "background" layer, put the top one as the upper layer with a mask, then brush in the smoke -- with the dark background it should be pretty painless

I would first try the KISS principal (keep it simple stupid). Try to photomerge them...might work, might not, but don't quit after one attempt. Give it 3-4 tries before you give up.
Failing that, assuming the blacks are exactly the same RGB readings, increase the canvas size and clone in the match or smoke into the other image at the appropriate place.

All this assumes that you have CS4-5.

Not sure exactly what final look you are trying to achieve. I gave Tony's suggestion a quick try using layer masks, plus tweaked levels a bit:

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Alright guys thanks for the info and input! I tried photomerge about 4 times and it didn't work. I even tried aligning them manually.

However I was able to pull of the mask method. Following the tutorials didn't work but some time and experimentation worked pretty good. And I'm happy with the results! What do you guys think? I'll post this in a photo sharing thread too.

In photoshop, place both images on it's own layer. Set the top layer to screen blending mode. That reveals both layers combined. Use the move tool to nudge the top layer til it matches the bottom.

I hope this is what you had in mind.

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Rimmer wrote in post #11510076
Not sure exactly what final look you are trying to achieve. I gave Tony's suggestion a quick try using layer masks, plus tweaked levels a bit:

Hey thanks for giving it a shot! I just posted a version that I'm pretty happy with.

bzollinger wrote in post #11510120
Alright guys thanks for the info and input! I tried photomerge about 4 times and it didn't work. I even tried aligning them manually.

However I was able to pull of the mask method. Following the tutorials didn't work but some time and experimentation worked pretty good. And I'm happy with the results! What do you guys think? I'll post this in a photo sharing thread too.

I'd say you did really well!

As someone suggested. Put the smoke in a layer no top of the candle layer. Use a Screen Blend.
Then mask out or erase the matchstick and the other object with a feathered brush.
I positioned it so that the smoke appears to come from the flame ... and changed the Hue on the smoke layer..or you can leave it blue.

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tonylong wrote in post #11510128
I'd say you did really well!

Thanks for the kind comments! I'm pretty happy about it. If only photoshop was as malleable as photography itself!

kjonnnn wrote in post #11510271
As someone suggested. Put the smoke in a layer no top of the candle layer. Use a Screen Blend.
Then mask out or erase the matchstick and the other object with a feathered brush.
I positioned it so that the smoke appears to come from the flame ... and changed the Hue on the smoke layer..or you can leave it blue.

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Byte size: ZERO

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Byte size: ZERO

Very cool! I love the way that you were able to really make it look as though the smoke came from the match!

I'm going to have to try this technique! Thanks again.

I should have mentioned that I also used a layer mask to eliminate one of the matchsticks from the head down.

You can even find free smoke brushes and create your own smoke when there is none on the image you want to apply it.

Both kitacanon and kjonnnn: You need to calibrate your screens: *Very* obvious transitions / painting marks in the blacks.

Then again, neither of the images have an embedded profile, so that might be related.

René Damkot wrote in post #11512217
Both kitacanon and kjonnnn: You need to calibrate your screens: *Very* obvious transitions / painting marks in the blacks.

I see it in kitacanon's image but not in the one by kjonnnn. How does that relate to calibration? Wrong brightness/contrast?