Create a snow globe composite in Photoshop

Cut out the kids

Open the image of the children. We need to mask out the background so go to Select > Subject and then click the Add Layer Mask icon in the Layers panel to hide the background. Zoom in to check the edges of the cutout, and paint black on the image to hide areas or white to reveal them until the cut-out is perfect.

Position the layer

Open the snow globe image. Grab the Move tool and drag the cut-out layer up to the tab of the snow globe image, then down and in to copy it over.

Hit Cmd/ctrl+t for transform mode and use the bounding box to resize and position the kids inside the globe.

Mask the layer

Hit Cmd/ctrl+g to convert the layer into a group, then click the Mask icon to add a mask (this lets us ‘nest’ a second mask while preserving the first). Grab the Brush tool and paint black over any parts that obscure reflections in the globe. Hide any other areas to blend it with the globe.

Blend the snow

Highlight the bottom layer and grab the Lasso tool. Make a selection over some of the flakes of snow then hit Cmd/ctrl+j to copy to a new layer. Drag the layer to the top of the stack and change the blend mode to Lighten, then use the Move tool to position it over the kids. Duplicate to add snow.

Add more bokeh

Open one of the supplied bokeh images, drag it in with the Move tool and set the blend mode to Screen, then position it over the scene. If necessary add a layer mask and paint black to hide any parts of the bokeh that you don’t want to include. Add more bokeh images, if you like, to build up the background effect.

Enhance the colours

Highlight the top layer and press Cmd/ctrl+shift+alt+e then go to Filter > Camera Raw Filter. A colour shift will help everything to gel together, so use the tonal sliders to adjust and enhance the tones, and try out different profiles in the Profile Browser.