How to blend Layers in Photoshop and select faces with masks

Colin Smith

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Blending layers with faces in Photoshop

This Photoshop tutorial will show you how to combine images together to make a composite. I will show you a tip that helps automatically isolate faces to make posters and things, you can also use this for retouching.

This is how you make images like the one I quickly threw together here.

Waves movie poster made in Photoshop, two women's faces blended with a beach and ocean waves

1. Combine 2 images into one document. Here is a simple tutorial to combine images

See the face on the layer above the background

Portrait of a curly haired woman and a beach photo combined into one Photoshop document

2. Lets isolate the face

Choose the Channels panel

Hold down Ctrl/Cmd and click on the red channel.

Ctrl or Cmd clicking the Red channel thumbnail in the Photoshop Channels panel

3. This will load a selection of the reds. It will grab all the reds, which exist in some degree in every skin tone.

Selection of the reds loaded as marching ants over the woman's face and the beach

4. In the layers panel

Press Cmd/Ctrl+J to copy the selection to a new layer

Ctrl or Cmd+J copying the selected face to a new layer, Layer 1, in Photoshop

step 5

If I hide the other layers, you can see what we copied from the red channel.

In some instances, you will get the opposite result. If this is the case, go back to the selection step 3 and press Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+I to inverse the selection.

Isolated face on its own layer, pale and transparent where the reds were not selected

step 6

Turn back on the face layer and background and hide the duplicated face layer (Layer 1)

Click on new layer mask for the original face layerm you will see a nmask.

Layer mask added to the original face layer in the Photoshop Layers panel

step 7

Choose the gradient tool and black to white as the gradient.

Set it to linear and Normal blending mode

Gradient tool options with a black to white linear gradient and Normal blending

Drag the gradient through the face

Dragging a gradient across the woman's face toward the beach photo in Photoshop

You will see a nice even blend

Woman's face blending smoothly into the ocean and beach after the gradient on the mask

Turn on the top fac layer and it will add some opacity to the face, whicle keeping the smooth blend on the rest of the image

Isolated face layer turned back on, adding opacity to the face while keeping the beach blend

Using the same technique, I created this fake poster

Finished Waves movie poster with two women's faces blended into the beach in Photoshop

 

I hope you found this useful. Check out the quick video at the top for more detail and tips.

Thanks

Colin


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8 thoughts on “How to blend Layers in Photoshop and select faces with masks”

  1. Ann Bricker
    October 5, 2022 at 7:55 am

    I rarely use the channels. After watching this I think that will change. Thanks Colin.

  2. Eternal Treasures In Time
    October 5, 2022 at 1:01 pm

    That was really nice–Thanks so very much for sharing and making it so UN-complicated!
    Respectfully and Blessings

  3. De
    October 5, 2022 at 5:39 pm

    Thanks Colin, enjoy your tutorials.

  4. Paul D Hanseen
    October 6, 2022 at 12:27 pm

    thanks FANTASTIC

  5. Anna Bruyns
    October 8, 2022 at 10:46 am

    am ready for the challange

  6. October 8, 2022 at 7:08 pm

    Learned a new lesson, I done it. Thanks for this nice tutorial.

  7. Henry
    November 2, 2022 at 3:17 am

    Thank you so much Colin, this is a great hack.
    I love your tutorials.

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