"MrsBeebleBrock" wrote in message
Right, and if I were to look in the help file for more details on how to place different files in the same document but on separate layers, and for details on brushes, what subject should I search under?
Since the whole basis for creating a photomontage is layers, you might be tempted to look in the help contents under "Using Layers". You will quickly find some information about creating layers. Unfortunately, this information is inappropriate for your task and will probably just create confusion.
The things you really need to know about first are pasting or dragging with the Move tool. But if you look up the paste command, you will discover that it exists, but the help won’t tell you how it works. If you look up the Move tool, you will not be informed that you can drag an image or a selection onto a different document, which is the critical thing for you to know. In other words, the Photoshop help is extremely unhelpful. You’d be better off getting a good book or two. There’s another thread going on now with suggestions for books.
In the mean time, try this. First, use File->New to create a new document that is roughly the size you want the final montage to be. You don’t have to be precise, since you can change the canvas size whenever you like via Image->Canvas Size.
Next, open one of the images that you want to put in the montage. Select the Move tool (if you like using the keyboard, just hit the V key). Click anywhere in the image, and drag it to the new document. This automatically creates a new layer. If you only want to use a small part of this image in the montage, make a generous selection around the part of the image you want to include, using any of the selection tools. Then use the Move tool to drag the selected part of the image to the new document. This also creates a new layer. Either way, you can use the Move tool to reposition the new layer. This is usually easiest if you check the "Auto Select Layer" box up on the option bar.
Now you probably want to add a mask to your new layer by choosing Layer->Add Layer Mask->Reveal All. Look at the layers palette and you’ll see two thumbnails corresponding to the new layer. The one on the left represents the image, and the one on the right represents the mask. To edit the image on that layer, click on the left thumbnail. To edit the mask, click on the right thumbnail. To see the mask while you edit it, Alt-click on the right thumbnail (if you’re using Windows; if you’re using a Mac, you’re on your own here). Since you created the mask using Reveal All, the mask starts out solid white. If you paint black on the mask, that part of the layer will be hidden. If you paint gray on the mask, that part of the layer will be partially transparent. All of the usual tools work on the layer mask. For example, you can use the Gaussian Blur filter on the mask to make the edges of the layer fade out.
Now you might want to close the image that you copied this layer from, open a new image, and repeat the above process. You can add as many new layers as you are likely to want in Photoshop 7. The cool thing about layers is that you can go back and move any layer or change the layer mask whenever you want. You can also drag the layers up and down in the layers palette.
Once you’re comfortable with basics of using layers, read up on blending modes, which let you do lots of useful things.
