How to Create a Composite in Photoshop?
Want to show your Photoshop creativity? Why not consider the technique of compositing? With compositing, you can club 2 images and create a single one without any hassle. This technique provides you the opportunity to showcase your talent and creative skills.
From intricate movements to unrealistic scenes, everything is possible with the art of composite. All you need is to learn the technique of compositing in Photoshop. In this tutorial, we will walk you through how to composite in Photoshop.
Suggested Article– Creative Photoshop Ideas.
How to Create a Composite in Photoshop?
With Photoshop, you only have to follow some simple steps and you will be done with making a composite.
1. Open Your 1st Photo in Photoshop
At the start, open your image 1st image that you want to combine with another image to make a composite. We have chosen a photo of a lady in this tutorial. Make sure to unlock the background layer with a click on the “Lock” icon visible on the layer.
2. Make a selection on the Subject
Now, you have to select your subject. For that, you can use any of the selection tools, including Quick Selection, Lasso, and Magic Wand. We will use the Quick Selection tool here to make the selection.
Apply the selection on the subject by clicking from the top and dragging all the way down. In the first shot, your selection won’t be perfect. But you can manually move the selection by clicking on the faulty areas. To move the selection away, click and drag it. To move the selection in, hold the “Alt” key and drag it.
3. Select the Refine Edge Tool
Even after fixing the selection issues, there will be subtle areas that you can’t manually fix. For that, you have to use the “Refine Edge” tool. Go to the “Select“tab and move down to the “Refine Edge” and click it.
4. View the Background Parts around the Edge
With that, a window will open up with a number of elements and options. Also, you can view the parts of the background around the edge of the subject’s hair.
5. Start Refining the Edge
It’s time to refine the edge now. Click on the areas of the edge that reveal parts of the background. This will take away the background parts and refine the edge instantly. Then, click “Ok” to apply the changes.
6. Copy the Background Layer and then Select the Move Tool
At this point, duplicate the background layer by clicking Ctrl+J and the image will show up with its background clipped. Next, you have to move the subject to the 2nd image to composite. For that, select the “Move tool” from the toolbar or press “V” on the keyboard as a shortcut.
7. Open Your 2nd Image in Photoshop
Before you move the subject on the 2nd image, you have to open it in Photoshop. You can open it at the beginning as well. Like the 1st one, unlock its background layer too. We have chosen a room image in this case.
8. Position the Subject of the 1st Image on the 2nd
Your Move tool is active, so drag the subject of the 1st image on the 2nd image and position it properly. You should position the subject keeping an eye on the other elements and space of the room.
9. Resize the Subject
The subject of the 1st image may look small or big in relation to the 2nd image. For that, press Ctrl+T to activate the “Free Transform” tool. Once activated, resize the subject by clicking and dragging multiple anchor points visible on the outline.
10. Remove Matte if Visible
You have got your final output technically. But sometimes, the edge around the subject may show a matte (Dull) effect which isn’t wanted in this type of output.
To remove the matte, move to the “Layer” tab on top and move down to select “Matting”. From there, click “Remove Black Matte” or “Remove White Matte” depending on which colored matte is visible.
11. Final Output
This will generate your final output of composite where 2 different photos are combined.
This is how you can merge 2 photos and create a composite in Photoshop effortlessly. No need to be a Photoshop expert; By following this tutorial, you can composite even by having basic knowledge of Photoshop.
