Photoshop® CS3 for Dummies®

Chapter 10. Combining Images

In This Chapter

• Putting pieces together with layers

• Integrating with blending modes and opacity

• Cutting it out with Extract

• Keeping it in perspective with Vanishing Point

• Automating with Photomerge and Merge to HDR

A pharaoh's head on a lion body. A lion with the head, talons, and wings of an eagle. As evidenced by the sphinx and the mythological griffin, compositing elements has been around a lot longer than Photoshop, but Photoshop certainly makes it easier! Take part of one image, drop it onto another image, and sell the composite to the tabloids for thousands of dollars. (One of the more infamous misuses of Photoshop occurred during the 2004 U.S. Presidential campaign, with the publication of a fake photo of candidate John Kerry with actress and antiwar activist Jane Fonda.) Photoshop offers you incredible power — use it wisely!

In this chapter, I show you some basic techniques for compositing (combining two or more images into a single picture), how to use Extract to select part of an image for compositing, the new Vanishing Point feature, and then wrap up the chapter with a look at a couple of automated features for combining images.

Compositing Images: 1 + 1 = 1

You make a selection in one image, copy, switch to another image, and paste. There you have it — the basic composite! Pretty simple, isn't it? Whether you're putting together two images or creating ...