How to Change the Background of a Photo

In this tutorial, we are going to combine these two photos:

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And create this photo:

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Introduction: This tutorial is to help you learn how to change the background of a photo to something more interesting if you choose.  There are many ways of getting this done, but this technique is probably one of the easiest and most effective.  Ok, so once you open two similar photos (preferably the same size) that you would like to combine in photoshop:

1. Adjust the Levels and Brightness and Contrast of both pictures so they are just about as similarly adjusted as possible.  If you need more explanation of this visit our “Photo Touchups Tutorial.”

2. Then working with the photo that has the background that you want to use, Select the whole thing (Select>All), Copy the whole thing (Edit>Copy), and then working with the photo that has the foreground that you want to use, Paste the previous photo onto a new layer (Edit>Paste). Your layers menu for the for your photo should now look similar to the picture to the left.  With the background photo on top of the foreground photo.

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3. Now, add a Layer Mask to the upper layer that Hides All, (Layer>Add Layer Mask>Hide All). Your Layers menu should now look like similar to the picture below.

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4. Click on the Brush Tool,

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5. (make sure the colors you are working with are black and white).

6. Then (with the mask on the upper layer selected) simply brush where you want the new background to show through.  You will probably have to change brush sizes often for the more intricate places.

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