Step By Step / Piecing together magical scenes in Photoshop

1 Open your files

In Photoshop open your images together. To do this go to File> Scripts>load Files into Stack… In the window that opens click Browse… then navigate to and select your photos and click Open. Tick the box Attempt to Automatically Align Source Images, click OK.

3 Prepare your brush

Press D then X to change your foreground colour to black then select, your brush (keyboard shortcut B). With the mask selected choose a soft brush. Do this by right-clicking on your image and lowering the Hardness slider. Adjust your brush size with the other slider.

5 Check your mask

If you want to see where you’ve painted your mask, simply hold the Alt key while clicking on your mask. This will display only the mask, where black conceals any parts of the layer and white reveals it. This can help you pinpoint areas of the ladder that are still appearing.

2 Reorder your layers

Open your Layers palette (Window>layers). Reorder the layers by clicking and dragging them. Put the empty frame at the bottom of the Layers palette, followed by the model shot on top, that will make it easier to do the next step when adding masks.

4 Paint the mask

Select your top layer and click the ‘Add a mask’ button at the bottom of the layers. Now paint over the stepladder. Adjust your brush size as before or use [ and ] keys until your brush fits in the gaps, add a mask and paint over the ladder, revealing the empty frame below.

6 Tweak the shot and save

Click on the top layer and select the Create New Fill or Adjustment Layer… icon at the bottom of the Layers palette and add a Curves layer. We lightened the blacks to decrease contrast; this is a nondestructive treatment, meaning we can change it later if needed.