Blending Layers in Photoshop

With the composition of the image decided, Viktor starts working on blending the first additional element into the scene – a fire plate in the top left of the scene.

In this class:

  • Useful Photoshop tools for compositing images
  • How to organise your workflow using groups
  • How to match image quality by adding blur and noise
  • How to use blend modes to blend layers
  • Working with adjustment layers and layer masks

Starting with a rough cut out of the additional fire plate, Viktor demonstrates his process of blending the fire explosion with the rest of the scene. Again working with smart objects, he demonstrates how to use a variety of Photoshop tools, from the Warp tool to manipulate the shape of the fire, to the Blur and Noise filters to better match the apparent image quality. You’ll also see how he organises his workflow by using groups and naming layers and how to use adjustment layers, colour overlays and blend modes to adjust the colour of the fire.

The fire plate without any adjustments:
Creating a composite image

The fire plate, which was downloaded from a stock library, roughly inserted into the scene.

The fire plate blended into the scene:
Creating a composite image

The result after applying adjustments such as colour grading, blur and noise filters, warp and colour overlays.

For more tips on creating composite images in Photoshop, read our ‘Top tips for compositing‘ article.

Questions? Please post them in the comments section below.

Comments

  1. That’s like too much information for me too process in 50 minutes, but right until the solid colour fill I was on track and I also feel that it was a bit very brief process to bring in the highlights using solid colour fill, which would have been easy to overcome with simple overlapping. But otherwise the step by step work flow and explanation is just out of the world!!

  2. I gave up in the middle..its too complicated. I do artwork where I require compositing in a simpler way but I think that i still need to know a lot of the techniques. However, there’s just too much going on in this tutorial to be able to follow…i guess its too advanced for me, is what im saying.

    1. Hi Colin, yes it can get like that for me too with Viktor’s level of knowledge. Try my ‘Photoshop for Photographers’ course classes if you prefer, it’s a little lighter!

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