Making GHOSTLY IMAGES

(Combining Images)

Here are the pictures I am using for this tutorial. You can use these or any of your choosing.

A suggestion on picking your background picture.... depending on how you want your finished picture to look will help you decide. If you want to use a light background pic, your final picture will look like this example here.

 
Also in this case.. the size doesn't matter with your two pictures. It all depends on how you want the finished piece to look. For example, my purple one, the lady picture is close to the same size as my background, but I like the way it works together. My lighter example I made that lady picture smaller, so I could fit her in the lighter area of the background. I generally leave both of my pictures as they are, and go thru the steps and see how it turns out. I then can make any adjustments after I see how it turns out.

Open your background image and your picture you want to combine into your background.

Now let's choose a color from the background. Use the DROPPER to pick a color and left click. 

This will make the color you choose the foreground color. I generally pick a light color from the background if I am using a dark background picture or a dark color if I am using a light background picture.

 Now make your other image active by clicking on it. Now hold SHIFT and D to make a duplicate.

DO NOT close the original. This is what you should now have, one original pic and a duplicate. To avoid confusion, minimize your original picture. With your duplicate image active, click on LAYERS, NEW RASTER LAYER. Leave the default settings as they are and click on OK. 
When you open your LAYER PALETTE this is what you should see. 

Flood fill Layer 1 with the foreground color you chose earlier. Right click on the Background layer and choose delete. So now all you have is a solid color picture the same size as your original. We will use this color to now make the mask.

Click on MASKS, then NEW and then FROM IMAGE.

In the SOURCE WINDOW, you will scroll to find the name of your picture. Then make sure SOURCE LUMINANCE is checked and in this case I want to INVERT MASK DATA. Now this will depend on the picture you are using. Then click OK.

This is what you should have if you choose to INVERT MASK DATA.
This is what you should have if you did not check INVERT MASK DATA.

We now want to COPY this. So click on COPY in the toolbar or go to EDIT, then COPY. Now click on your background image to make it active. Then EDIT, PASTE as NEW LAYER.

Move your PASTED layer to where ever you think it looks best. I moved the ladies face to the lighter area of my background so she showed up better. Now if the color you chose for the mask does not look like what you expected you can change it. Just change your foreground color and fill the layer with the mask. If you are not sure you like it, you can always go back to your MASK and click on EDIT, UNDO mask from image. Try it again but this time try NOT checking INVERT MASK DATA. Copy and paste as a new layer onto the background image.

  With INVERT MASK DATA checked.

With INVERT MASK DATA unchecked.
If you like your mask without the INVERT MASK DATA  unchecked (like the example above) you will have to play with the OPACITY of the mask layer so that your background picture shows thru. The example above is with the OPACITY at 64. It's a visual thing. LOL Play with it till you like what you see. 

When you are happy with your results, click on LAYERS, MERGE, MERGE ALL (FLATTEN).   

Depending on where you will use your finished piece, it may need to be resized. I usually try and make it no wider than 300 to be used as a side scrolling stationary. To do this click on IMAGE, then RESIZE. Click PIXEL SIZE and change the width to 300. Then OK.

After you RESIZE, you may need to click on IMAGE, SHARPEN to make it look clearer. 

With this this finished piece I would crop it where I have the red box, this is the visible edge of the mask. Then I would do any resizing that I needed to.  

Now all you have to do is add any finishing touches you want. Add a frame. What ever your heart desires.

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