In this tutorial I will demonstrate how to place a person inside an image using the "paste into" command.
You can use this technique to achieve all kinds of convincing photomanipulation tricks.
To start with you will need 2 pictures.
I chose a picture of a hot rod and a person
Using the pen tool draw a loose path around the window.
Now switch to the "add anchor point" path tool
Drag the anchor points into place.
To add a curve: Click once on the midway point between 2 anchor points, release the mouse button, then click and drag, you will notice you are now creating a curve. That is the biggest secret to the path tool. A bit of practice and it will be a breeze.
Once you have created the path, go to the paths palette and click, save path.
Now we want to load the path as a selection.
To do this just ctrl/cmd+click on the paths thumbnail
You now will have a selection around the area we are going to position the person.
Select the person in the 2nd image and choose "copy"
Select the hotrod image again and choose edit>paste into
You will notice a new layer is created with a layer mask around the window.
Press Ctrl/Cmd+T for free transform and scale and position your person to fit inside the window.
There all nicely positioned and sized in the window.
The only problem now is that it looks a bit fake because the window has a highlight and the person is opaque.
Lets create a highlight for the window. Load the path of the window shape create a new layer. Fill with white
Now switch to screen mode and lower the opacity to 29%
There all done. Wanna take a ride?
Don't limit this techniques for people and windows, use it for all kinds of photo foolery and collaging.
