How to Blend Two Images Together in Adobe Photoshop CC

Photoshop has the ability to do some amazing things. One of the most useful is blending two images together into a single composite. Whether you are combining a portrait with a landscape, creating a double exposure, or building something entirely new, the process comes down to layers, masks, and blend modes. Today I am going to show you how to blend two images together in Adobe Photoshop CC.

Setting Up Your Images

1. Open your background image in Photoshop. This should be the larger of the two images and will serve as the base.
2. If your background image is too small, use the Crop Tool to expand it. This may leave white space around the edges.
3. To fill that white space, use the Marquee Tool to select the empty area. Press Shift+F5 to open the Fill dialog. Choose Content Aware and press OK. Photoshop will fill it in to match the surrounding area.
4. Now bring in your second image. Go to File > Place Embedded and select it. This will drop it in as a new layer.

Blending With Layer Masks

If you only want a portion of the second image to show through, you can isolate it with a selection and a mask.

1. Select the Quick Selection Tool and paint over the area you want to keep. For more precision, use the Pen Tool instead.
2. With your selection active, click the Add Layer Mask button at the bottom of the Layers panel. This will hide everything except the selected area.
3. Select the Brush Tool. Set the size to something large, the hardness to 0%, and make sure white is your foreground color.
4. Click on the layer mask thumbnail and paint around the edges to soften the transition between the two images.

Refining the Blend

Once your two images are combined, you can fine tune the result to make it feel more natural.

1. Duplicate the main image layer with Ctrl+J (Cmd+J on Mac).
2. Select the bottom layer and lower its Opacity to around 65%.
3. Change the Blend Mode to Hard Light or experiment with others like Soft Light or Overlay.
4. Group the layers together by selecting them, holding Ctrl/Cmd, and pressing Ctrl+G.
5. Add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer above the group. Enable the clipping mask so it only affects the group. Adjust the settings until the colors between the two images feel unified.

And just like that you have two images combined into one. The key to a good blend is taking the time to soften the edges and match the color tones. Experiment with different blend modes and opacity levels to get the exact look you want.