Step BY Step / Adding focal points to pictures

1 Copy and position

Open woodland_before01, then go to File>place Embedded and choose the 02 image. Go to the Layers panel and reduce the layer opacity, then hit Cmd/ctrl+t. Hold Shift and drag the corner of the box to resize the layer then position the stag. Hit enter to apply.

3 Improve the cut out

Change View to ‘On Layers’ then try increasing the Radius slider to improve the selection. In parts where the edge needs more attention, paint with the Refine Radius Brush, or switch to the Brush tool to paint freehand. Once done, choose Output to: Layer Mask and hit OK.

5 Tint the shadows

Hit Cmd/ctrl+m to bring up the Curves box. Doubleclick the black point eyedropper in the box to open a colour box, then click on a dark tone in the trees near the stag to sample a colour. Hit OK, then click on the darkest part of the stag to change the shadow colours. Click OK.

2 Select the stag

Bring the Layer Opacity back up to 100% then go to Select>select and Mask. Set View: Marching Ants, then grab the Quick Selection tool from the left and paint over the stag to select it. If the selection goes wrong, hold Alt and paint to subtract areas.

4 Match the tones

Reposition the stag, if necessary, then highlight the mask thumbnail in the Layers panel and paint black over the legs so they appear to go behind the log. Check the edges of the mask and paint with white or black if you need to fine-tune what is visible or hidden.

6 Match the grain

The stag looks a bit too detailed, so go to Filter>blur> Gaussian Blur, set Amount 1 and hit OK. Next we’ll match the noise in the background image. Go to Filter>noise. Check Monochromatic, set Amount 8 and hit OK, then make any other tonal changes you like.