{"id":808650,"date":"2024-04-28T10:41:30","date_gmt":"2024-04-28T17:41:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/us\/?p=805596"},"modified":"2026-04-14T14:58:34","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T21:58:34","slug":"how-to-build-an-impressive-blended-photo-collage-in-adobe-photoshop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/how-to-build-an-impressive-blended-photo-collage-in-adobe-photoshop\/","title":{"rendered":"How to build an impressive blended photo collage in Adobe Photoshop"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Maybe you\u2019ve been using&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.adobe.com\/products\/photoshop.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Adobe Photoshop<\/a>&nbsp;for a while, or maybe you\u2019re just getting started. There are many ways to do every type of edit in the software, as well as all kinds of tips, tricks, and hacks to do things more simply and easily.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>In this tutorial Colin Smith, the creator of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@photoshopcafe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">PhotoshopCAFE<\/a>, demonstrates how to merge photos together, seamlessly blend them into a digital collage, and add a text effect on top.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=vXwBMKysmHM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Check out the video below<\/a>&nbsp;for the Adobe Photoshop tutorial, or read on for a summary of the instructions!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Build a photo collage in Photoshop\" width=\"1080\" height=\"608\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vXwBMKysmHM?feature=oembed\"  allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:29px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In this Adobe Photoshop tutorial, we\u2019re going to show you how to blend images together and create a photo&nbsp;collage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1. Load images<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So the first step is to bring in the three images that we\u2019re going to work with. Create a folder if you haven\u2019t already and put the images in&nbsp;it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In Photoshop, choose&nbsp;<strong>File &gt; Scripts &gt; Load Files into Stack<\/strong>. This is going to put them all into one document. Hit&nbsp;<strong>Browse<\/strong>, find the folder you created, select the images, and click OK. Photoshop is going to build a new document and drop the three images, one on top of the&nbsp;other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"582\" src=\"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/04\/tut-02.jpg\" alt=\"Colin Smith photoshop image\" class=\"wp-image-808751\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/04\/tut-02.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/04\/tut-02-980x557.jpg 980w, https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/04\/tut-02-480x273.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 980px) 980px, (min-width: 981px) 1024px, 100vw\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2. Crop canvas<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now hit&nbsp;<strong>Ctrl\/Cmd+0<\/strong>, and that\u2019ll zoom out so we can see the entire&nbsp;image.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now let\u2019s crop the image to the size that we\u2019re going to use. Use the&nbsp;<strong>Crop tool (Shortcut C)<\/strong>. Make sure Delete Cropped Pixels is&nbsp;<em>not<\/em>&nbsp;checked. If it does that, it\u2019s actually going to cut away the other parts of the&nbsp;image.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"518\" src=\"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/04\/tut-08.jpg\" alt=\"Colin Smith photoshop image\" class=\"wp-image-808752\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/04\/tut-08.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/04\/tut-08-980x496.jpg 980w, https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/04\/tut-08-480x243.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 980px) 980px, (min-width: 981px) 1024px, 100vw\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3. Move and resize image layers<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Use the&nbsp;<strong>Move Tool (Shortcut key M)<\/strong>, and position one image on top of the other where we\u2019re going to blend it into the other&nbsp;image.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In my example, I\u2019m going to drag the image of the woman to the top left and have the folks in the bus on the right. Resize your images by using the&nbsp;<strong>Transform tool (Ctrl\/Cmd+T<\/strong>) so they\u2019re the size you&nbsp;want.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Tip: <\/strong>Try to avoid resizing images to make them larger \u2014 it can create pixelation. Doing this a little bit is OK, especially for smaller images and for the Internet \u2014 but for larger images or for print, it\u2019s not a good&nbsp;idea.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"519\" src=\"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/04\/tut-11.jpg\" alt=\"Colin Smith photoshop image\" class=\"wp-image-808753\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/04\/tut-11.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/04\/tut-11-980x497.jpg 980w, https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/04\/tut-11-480x243.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 980px) 980px, (min-width: 981px) 1024px, 100vw\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">4. Blend images<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So first, create a layer mask on top. With the top layer selected in the&nbsp;<strong>Layers Panel<\/strong>, click the&nbsp;<strong>New Layer Mask<\/strong>&nbsp;button.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hit the&nbsp;<strong>D key<\/strong>&nbsp;to reset the foreground and background colors to black and white. Select the&nbsp;<strong>Gradient Tool (Shortcut key G<\/strong>). Use the foreground to background or black to white&nbsp;<strong>Swatch<\/strong>&nbsp;in the&nbsp;<strong>Basics folder<\/strong>. Set gradient direction to&nbsp;<strong>Linear<\/strong>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<strong>Opacity<\/strong>&nbsp;to&nbsp;100.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now, with the layer mask selected, drag the mouse from the right edge of the image to the left. The blend should remove the edge of the photo, like in the image below. If you want to blend more, drag it further. For a smoother blend, you\u2019re going to start further away and drag further&nbsp;out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"570\" src=\"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/04\/tut-15.jpg\" alt=\"Colin Smith photoshop image\" class=\"wp-image-808754\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/04\/tut-15.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/04\/tut-15-980x546.jpg 980w, https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/04\/tut-15-480x267.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 980px) 980px, (min-width: 981px) 1024px, 100vw\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">5. Apply overlay<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To create an overlay, we\u2019ll use the third image as a blended background texture with the other two. In this example, we\u2019re using a vintage looking map layer.&nbsp;<strong>Unhide<\/strong>&nbsp;that layer in your layer stack. Use the&nbsp;<strong>Transform tool (Ctrl\/Cmd+T<\/strong>) to resize the layer to cover the entire&nbsp;canvas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Tip: If the shape is changing when you\u2019re dragging it, hold down the Shift key and that will constrain&nbsp;it.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"565\" src=\"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/04\/tut-17.jpg\" alt=\"Colin Smith photoshop image\" class=\"wp-image-808755\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/04\/tut-17.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/04\/tut-17-980x541.jpg 980w, https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/04\/tut-17-480x265.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 980px) 980px, (min-width: 981px) 1024px, 100vw\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Change the&nbsp;<strong>Blending mode<\/strong>&nbsp;using the menu in the Layers panel. There are many different effects that can be achieved and that you can play around with. Try different types of blending modes depending on what kind of images you\u2019re working with. For this tutorial, we are going to select Overlay, and set&nbsp;<strong>Opacity<\/strong>&nbsp;to 52%. See how things are starting to blend in a little bit better&nbsp;now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"549\" src=\"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/04\/tut-18.jpg\" alt=\"Colin Smith photoshop image\" class=\"wp-image-808756\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/04\/tut-18.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/04\/tut-18-980x525.jpg 980w, https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/04\/tut-18-480x257.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 980px) 980px, (min-width: 981px) 1024px, 100vw\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now let\u2019s remove the overlay from the faces of the models. Create a&nbsp;<strong>New Layer Mask<\/strong>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<strong>Select<\/strong>&nbsp;it. Hit the&nbsp;<strong>X key<\/strong>&nbsp;to set black as the foreground color. Select the<strong>&nbsp;Brush Tool (Shortcut key B) &gt; Soft Round Brush. Set Opacity to&nbsp;100.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-8f761849 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-center is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:31%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"657\" height=\"816\" src=\"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/04\/tut-19.jpg\" alt=\"Colin Smith photoshop image\" class=\"wp-image-808757\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/04\/tut-19.jpg 657w, https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/04\/tut-19-480x596.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) 657px, 100vw\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-center is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:69%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/04\/tut-20.jpg\" alt=\"Colin Smith photoshop image\" class=\"wp-image-808839\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/04\/tut-20.jpg 800w, https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/04\/tut-20-480x270.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) 800px, 100vw\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now paint over areas you want the overlay completely removed, like the faces of your subjects. Then drop&nbsp;<strong>Opacity<\/strong>&nbsp;to about 18, and keep fading the overlay in areas where you think the effect can be softened \u2014 perhaps the subjects\u2019 clothes and\/or gear, or parts of the background you want to be more&nbsp;visible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"548\" src=\"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/04\/tut-21.jpg\" alt=\"Colin Smith photoshop image\" class=\"wp-image-808840\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/04\/tut-21.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/04\/tut-21-980x524.jpg 980w, https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/04\/tut-21-480x257.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 980px) 980px, (min-width: 981px) 1024px, 100vw\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">6. Add a color effect using a gradient<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">First, make sure you have the layer selected, not the layer&nbsp;mask.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Choose two colors, ideally a warm and a cool hue, using the&nbsp;<strong>Eyedropper Tool (Shortcut key I)<\/strong>. You can choose colors from the image by clicking or dragging the mouse around while the Color Picker panel is open. For this tutorial, colors #<strong>b65d23<\/strong>&nbsp;(Foreground) and #<strong>6ba1b4<\/strong>&nbsp;(Background) were&nbsp;used.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now, in the Layers Panel go to&nbsp;<strong>Adjustment Layer &gt; Gradient<\/strong>. The Gradient Fill window will open. Change the&nbsp;<strong>Gradient Type<\/strong>&nbsp;to&nbsp;<strong>Foreground to Background,<\/strong>&nbsp;and you can see the colors we choose. Set the&nbsp;<strong>Angle<\/strong>&nbsp;to&nbsp;1.46.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now, in the Layers Panel, change the blending mode to&nbsp;<strong>Color<\/strong>. What this does is it applies the color from our gradient onto the image while allowing all the image detail to show&nbsp;through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"555\" src=\"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/04\/tut-26.jpg\" alt=\"Colin Smith photoshop image\" class=\"wp-image-808841\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/04\/tut-26.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/04\/tut-26-980x531.jpg 980w, https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/04\/tut-26-480x260.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 980px) 980px, (min-width: 981px) 1024px, 100vw\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now let\u2019s blend the original colors with the color gradient layer. Reduce the&nbsp;<strong>Opacity<\/strong>&nbsp;of the gradient adjustment layer to 20%, then adjust according to your&nbsp;tastes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"551\" src=\"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/04\/tut-27.jpg\" alt=\"Colin Smith photoshop image\" class=\"wp-image-808761\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/04\/tut-27.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/04\/tut-27-980x527.jpg 980w, https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/04\/tut-27-480x258.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 980px) 980px, (min-width: 981px) 1024px, 100vw\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">7. Add Text With Drop Shadow Effect<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Use the&nbsp;<strong>Type Tool (Shortcut: T key)<\/strong>. The font used here is&nbsp;<strong>Nexa Rust Sans,&nbsp;<\/strong>which can be&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dafont.com\/nexa-rust-sans.font\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">downloaded and used for free for personal use<\/a>, but you can use anything you like. For this tutorial, we typed \u201cADVENTURE.\u201d Change the color to White&nbsp;<strong>(#FFFFFF)<\/strong>&nbsp;and resize to large.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Select the layer with your type. In the Layers Panel, click on&nbsp;<strong>Effects &gt; Drop&nbsp;Shadow.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the&nbsp;<strong>Layer Style<\/strong>&nbsp;window that opens, make sure the&nbsp;<strong>Drop Shadow<\/strong>&nbsp;tab is checked. Click there. Set&nbsp;<strong>Opacity<\/strong>&nbsp;to 100,&nbsp;<strong>Distance<\/strong>&nbsp;to 0. Play around with&nbsp;<strong>Size<\/strong>&nbsp;according to your preference (this actually refers to softness of the shadow edge). Set&nbsp;<strong>Fill<\/strong>&nbsp;to&nbsp;10%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Tip: <\/strong>If you want to see what the final result of the text effect is going to look like, go under&nbsp;<strong>Blending Options<\/strong>&nbsp;and you\u2019ll see&nbsp;<strong>Opacity<\/strong>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<strong>Fill Opacity<\/strong>, same as we have on the layers panel. Reduce&nbsp;<strong>Fill Opacity<\/strong>&nbsp;to 0 and you\u2019ll see that it hides the textures, but still allows the effect to show&nbsp;through.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"564\" src=\"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/04\/tut-29.jpg\" alt=\"Colin Smith photoshop image\" class=\"wp-image-808762\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/04\/tut-29.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/04\/tut-29-980x540.jpg 980w, https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/04\/tut-29-480x264.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 980px) 980px, (min-width: 981px) 1024px, 100vw\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now, with the type layer selected,&nbsp;<strong>Duplicate (Ctrl\/Cmd+J)<\/strong>&nbsp;the layer. Set&nbsp;<strong>Opacity<\/strong>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<strong>Fill<\/strong>&nbsp;to&nbsp;100.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We want to blend the duplicate layer with the more transparent original layer underneath to create a gradient effect. So first, create a&nbsp;<strong>layer mask<\/strong>&nbsp;on the duplicate type layer. Select the&nbsp;<strong>Gradient Tool (Shortcut key G)<\/strong>&nbsp;again. Hit the&nbsp;<strong>D key<\/strong>&nbsp;to reset foreground and background colors to black and white. Then use the linear gradient like before, now dragging from top to bottom. Set&nbsp;<strong>Opacity<\/strong>&nbsp;to&nbsp;50%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you feel like the image is too dark, you can change the blend mode to&nbsp;<strong>Screen<\/strong>, which will lighten it. Notice that we can get a completely different feel depending on the blend mode, so experiment with different&nbsp;ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That\u2019s it! Here\u2019s our final image below. We hope you enjoyed this creative&nbsp;project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:37px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"566\" src=\"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/04\/tut-31.jpg\" alt=\"Colin Smith photoshop image\" class=\"wp-image-808763\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/04\/tut-31.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/04\/tut-31-980x542.jpg 980w, https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/04\/tut-31-480x265.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 980px) 980px, (min-width: 981px) 1024px, 100vw\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:31px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-8f761849 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-center is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:20%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/01\/Colin-Smith-Profile-photo.jpeg\" alt=\"Colin Smith Profile photo\" class=\"wp-image-809997\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/01\/Colin-Smith-Profile-photo.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/01\/Colin-Smith-Profile-photo-200x200.jpeg 200w, https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/01\/Colin-Smith-Profile-photo-100x100.jpeg 100w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-center is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:80%\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">About the presenter:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/photoshopcafe.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Colin Smith<\/a> has been using Adobe Photoshop professionally for 20 years. He does training for Adobe and Apple and has written 20 books. At his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@photoshopcafe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">YouTube channel<\/a>, PhotoshopCAFE, he has hundreds of easy to follow Photoshop Tutorials and tips as well as Lightroom tutorials and occasional photography tech or drone videos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For more information or to see more of Colin\u2019s free Adobe Photoshop resources, check out the <a href=\"https:\/\/photoshopcafe.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Photoshop Cafe website<\/a>, or check out his <a href=\"https:\/\/photoshopcafe.com\/video\/videos.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">premium training library<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How to create a blended photo collage effect &#8212; with Adobe Photoshop expert Colin Smith!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":808655,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2338,2552,2336],"tags":[135,587,97],"class_list":["post-808650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-how-to","category-learn-photo-editing","category-photography","tag-adobe","tag-colin-smith","tag-photoshop"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=808650"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808650\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/808655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=808650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=808650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=808650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}