How to perfectly blend your picture

We show you how to strip out a subject from one image and seamlessly transplant it into a new picture. Sounds easy? As any professional image retoucher will tell you it's actually one of the toughest things to do well in Photoshop, particularly when it involves cutting out hair, fur or feathers. Mark Galer leads you through a typical pro-style project.

01 Drag And Drop
Download the free start images at www.australianphotography.com (click the how to tab and select tutorial images from the drop-down menu). Open the images 'Start_Castle' and 'Start_Subject' in Photoshop CS5. The first step is to drag the 'Start_Subject' image onto the 'Start_Castle' image. To do that you'll first have to drag one of the images away from the tabs at the top of the window so you can see both images. In the 'Tools' panel choose the 'Move Tool'. Hold the 'Shift' key on keyboard as you drag and drop the 'Start_Subject' image onto the 'Start_Castle' image. (Holding the 'Shift' key centres the image.)...

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