Adding a part of 1 image to a back round picture?

Question

on photo shop (new version) how do you apply a chunk of a picture to another one underneath it ex: a picture of a person onto of a picture of the sky.
im not used to photoshop but want to make collages.
any help would be great. thanks

Answer 1

Check out the Layers. Learn to use it. It is like having sheets of clear acetate laid one on top of another. Paste your items on each sheet. They can be modified in more way than I can explain here, and I am not a pro in Photoshop. It is a powerhouse program and I am jealous that you have a new version!
When you have the layers in the position you want and all is right with the world in your file, flatten the layers, or merge all layers. It will make everything stick together and reduce the file size. If it is a complex file I will usually save one as backup BEFORE I flatten the image. Then, if I see a problem or need to make modification later I will still have it in layers to work with.

Answer 2

The above answer is a good one.

The key, indeed, is layers.

Note that you can adjust the opacity of a layer to make the material behind show through.

Also you can select an area and "paste into" that selection.

The keystrokes (control + t) will give you "transform" so you can resize or even tilt the image.

You also can copy an image or a layer and paste into another image!

Another hint is (control + l) as in ell, this brings up levels so you can shift the highlights, low lights and mid range.

Always save as a psd file to protect your layers before saving to web or some other format so you can go back.

Photoshop also has spell check, can "flag" text areas and even change the opacity and all the things you might image for image work.

A common trick is to make a top layer, fill with white. Then reduce the opacity to maybe five percent. Then carefully erase to make certain areas really stand out, like eyes or colorful things.

Have fun!