Let's Talk: Blending Photos Into Background

[SweetChar]

Sarah (Sarah4883) asked me about the technique of blending the photo into the background. So...

Hi Sarah.

I'll dig in a little (or a lot?) on blending a photo into the background. I don't actually use the technique frequently because I'm not super proficient at it. lol I went browsing through my gallery to find some examples and, sometimes, it was page after page after page before I came across one. But it sure was fun looking at my layouts. Strolling down memory lane. Okay, back to the topic.

In general, I think the technique works better with some pictures more than others. I'm guessing you use Photoshop and suggest you grab several different pictures and a kit with a variety of papers and play, play, play! I thought I was going to be suggesting to change your pictures to black & white or sepia first. But...I realized when looking through mine, that I don't do that. lol I did on one. In the picture above, I probably desaturated it. Also, different papers behind the picture change things up drastically. Some work well, some don't.

By the way, I don't save my layered files of my layouts. I know that most everyone does and that's probably a topic for a whole 'nother thread. lol I mention that because I can't open layered files and tell you exactly what I did with any of the blended pictures.

For me, it helps to have a picture that will span the page or one where there isn't much going on around the main subject of the picture. Then, play around with adjustments to your picture like Levels, Brightness, Saturation, etc. Then play around with blend mode of the layer. The default is "normal" so check them all out: multiply, linear burn, color dodge, overlay, screen, etc. There's a lot to choose from! Also play with the opacity of your picture layer.

If the picture spans the page, then great! Easy! If it doesn't, then you'll want to use a layer mask and a soft edged brush or grungy brush. I usually lower the opacity of the brush. Well, at the first pass around the edges, I might have it at 100%. Then each time I go, I lower the opacity. Some people might use the gradient tool to fade out the bottom (or top or side) of a picture. I haven't messed with that in ages so I don't know. I assume it's still an option. lol


Here's some for more inspiration (I started with thumbnails but decided to come back full size lol) with a few thoughts:

This one spans the page so I didn't worry about the edges. The bottom is covered up by papers and elements.



I liked having the texture of the paper (under the photo) show up in this one.



You can go subtle or BOLD. lol



Probably lowered the opacity of this image as well as played with blend modes. Wanted lots of the wood to show through.



Used a layer mask to brush away the right side of the picture.



Backgrounds of pictures matter! The sky, water and sand here easily fade away.



This is one that I changed the picture to almost all black & white. The concrete between the subjects (my husband and youngest son) and the camera was easy to use a layer mask and fade away.



The cream color carpet my fellas were lying on was helpful in blending it away.



Had some fun with this one. Used a layer mask to take away everything but myself. Didn't mind if the edges (hair, etc) weren't perfectly masked.



I often like using a paper that shows some graininess/texture behind the picture.



One of my favorites. Just because.



Now, since I've already admitted that I don't feel super proficient at it, I KNOW there are others here that ARE.

Em (The Nifty Pixel) is such a pro at it! You should check out her gallery sometime. Lots of layouts throughout that have photos blended into the background.
Here's a couple:





Hmmm. Now that I've typed all of this, I should probably go look at the "Tutorials" tab/link up above and see if they already have information there.

Sarah, I hope this helped you a little bit. Play around with it!

If anyone else wants to jump in with some tips or inspiration, please do!

[HeatherH]

I don't blend photos nearly as much as I used to, but I think it involves a lot of trial and error.

For the most part, I think the background paper needs to be mostly plain (subtle print or woodgrains can work as well). Then I usually cycle through the blend modes in Photoshop and see what looks best. If I like the way one looks but it's too dark, I reduce the opacity of the photo layer or if it's too light, I will duplicate the photo layer. Sometimes I will have the photo on several layers and will make one black and white and leave another layer in color and then play with the blend modes.

I also do not save my layered Photoshop documents (I save them until the end of the week, usually, in case I made any mistakes!) so it's hard to remember exactly what I did on certain pages.

On this one, I blended the pumpkin photo into a woodgrain paper from the kit. The blend mode is most likely Multiply or Darker Color:



This one blended using the Gradient tool in PS (dragged horizontally) then I used the eraser tool to soften the edges:



This one is just blended into a mildly patterned paper using Luminosity blend mode:



This one has the photo on two layers. The top layer has a sketch filter applied to it and then I cycled through the blend modes to get something I liked:



Another on with the photo on 2 layers-one in the frame and the other blended into the background using a layer mask:



This is why I love digital scrapbooking! So many cool techniques to learn and play around with to make your pages fun and unique!

[SeattleSheri]

I love blending, though admittedly I don't do it as much as I used to! I have some older tutorials on blending HERE & HERE (my technique has definitely evolved since these were written)

Here are a few samples from my gallery:

Multi-photo monochromatic blending:



Complex blending over brick paper:


Subtle complimentary blending:






Dramatic background blending:


Portrait blending with color photo focus:

[SweetChar]

Heather and Sheri, those are all so cool and beautiful!

Thanks for sharing them and your tips.

[AmieN1]

So many great examples! I used to do it a lot more than I do now & should try to remember to do it more- I love blending. One thing that I do often (especially with a wood background paper) is blend 2 or more papers together. I tend to do it a lot with clipping a patterned paper to a paint layer- then blending that into the background. Sometimes it's changing the blend modes, other times it's adjsuting the sliders in the "Blend If" section of the layers style pop out menu (ie- pulling the black slider over so that the paper is knocked out wherever there is black underneath as in spaces between wood boards, wood grain, etc.) Here's a few samples.





just blend modes here- the b/w sketchy paper blended into the rainbow background paper with multiply blend mode:


Couple photo samples too- I love a good textured background on my photos too! various blend modes for both of these (ALSO- I don't save layered files either Char! )

[Sarah4883]

These are some seriously amazing pages ladies! Now, to find the right photos to use the inspiration!

oh, and Char, I only save the layered files until I print (in case I find mistakes I want to fix) after I print them I save the flattened jpeg, but delete the psd for space reasons. And only once have I ever wished I could go back and change something that was harder to do with only the flattened images.

[cherrygutz]

Ladies, those are really awesome blending talent! I think I made a blended (blending?) page once. After that I just clip photo paint or paint brush I have.

[SweetChar]

Amie, those are fantastic examples.

Sarah, I hope you have fun playing with it.

[SweetChar]

Silly little change... I went back to my first post and changed "mask" to "mask layer" throughout.

[SweetChar]

Anyone else like this:
Once a week I drive my son to his piano lesson. It's about 40 minutes away and I take 12 different roads along the way. I could probably tell you the name of 3 or 4 of those roads. lol

Using Photoshop is like that for me. I DO things but don't know what they are called or how to describe them.

So, as I'm lying there trying to fall asleep last night, I keep wondering about the masks. I knew I had already changed the wording from just "mask" to "mask layer." But... that made it sound that there is a layer by itself that is a mask. And that's not accurate. When I have a layer selected and click on the mask option below the layers panel, well...it adds a mask ON that layer. Not as a separate layer. So... I'm heading up to the first post once again and changing "mask layer" to "layer mask."

[laurabobaura]

love all of these examples!

[Kimberly27]

I enjoy doing this esp with large photos or photos that are kind of blurry

This one I clipped the photo the paper and changed the blending to Linear Burn


This photo I just put on top of the background paper (didn't clip it), lowered the opacity to give a blended effect and then added a layer mask to the photo and used a brush to blend the edges


This one I believe I clipped the image to a premade mask but you can get the same effect with using a layer mask and a brush. You brush on the layer mask. The mask is white so black "erases" and white will undo.


This one uses the same layer mask...



This one uses the same as above...I blended using the blend mods...this one is set to hard light
https://www.sweetshoppecommunity.com...98/Top5web.jpg

This one I changed the blend mode to lighten and lowered the opacity then added a layer mask to blend the side to the page.


I recommend just playing around with it. CTRL z is my friend

[aussiegirl]

If you are struggling, you can always start out with a template that includes a blended photo, to get the idea of what you are doing, and then you can work on them yourself.