And here is the linear burn going solo. You can tell that we want the lighter overlay mode beneath to bring up the darker areas. By using both blending modes, we are able create a nice contrast while mixing with the background layer to make her a part of the sky, yet still hold her own as the focal point.
Choose an image that you think would be complementary to the design. Here we already have a similar hue so we shouldn't have to make any major adjustments (unless we create a global adjustment layer later which would take care of things right away).
Drag it into the document and scale it down and place it where you think it should go with the move tool.
Note the layer order in the layers palette: behind her and as part of the dreamy background.
If you're reading the other tutorials or have the Basic Photoshop DVD training program, you know the deal: create a layer mask and get rid of those harsh lines to convert a photographic layer into a design layer.
If you like the hue of the image you brought in and want to make that the overall color then bring up the color balance on the original background layer and make adjustments until your eyes are happy.
You can see the color balance adjustment layer has created a richer, sunset reddish/orange effect quite well.
You can create another adjustment layer and hide it later or just modify the settings by double clicking on the adjustment layer icon in the layers palette and change the settings. Here I've colorized to a midnight blue. This effect is used all the time in movie posters and film marketing.
Go ahead and you can fool around with the placement of the hue adjustment layer in the layers palette order. Anything above it will not be affected by the hue (in this case you can't really tell because the layer is mostly masked and on a blending mode anyways).
Note how well the light areas of her hair on the left side (her right) work well as they are lit up from behind because of the blending mode attributes (linear burn layer being masked to let light bleed through with the softer overlay holding the pixels there and lighting up).
And here are the two versions of the final product. In Photoshop CS you could turn these versions on and off with the layer comps palette. This design is available for free in the iPSD Directory or if you signed up for the PSDer ezine at the bottom of the page.
To uncover many more hidden secrets of Photoshop and real-world design, be sure to check out my Discover Photoshop: Total Package (it's so filled with powerful information you won't know where to start).
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