Tutorial: How to achieve a double exposure effect with Adobe Photoshop?

Have you always wanted to compose neat and impressive artistic visuals as you can admire in advertisements or in the feed of your favorite social network? To help you impress the canvas, here is a detailed tutorial on how to achieve a double exposure effect, combining 2 images in one harmoniously. This tutorial was produced with the image processing software Adobe Photoshop, which you can find during the periods of Cyber ​​Monday at -40%.

Adobe Photoshop is the benchmark software in matter of design for all graphic designers and lovers of beautiful images. Complete and flexible, it allows you to embellish your photos, to create artistic montages and compositions thanks to its many features.

Now that the introductions are done, let’s get down to business!

Tutorial: Create a double exposure effect with Adobe Photoshop

Start by opening your portrait in Photoshop, unlock the background layer, and use the quick selection tool to crop your portrait.

If you have one of the latest versions of Photoshop, you can use the Select Subject command at the top of the workspace. Intended to save you a lot of time in the process of cropping an element, it is rather recommended for elements on a solid background or elements that stand out from the rest of the photo. If you do not have this tool, you will need to use the classic quick selection tool.

Then click on Select and Mask to create your mask and create a new layer with only our portrait. You have the possibility of rounding the contours a little to avoid the too abrupt limits of our selection.

Scroll down the properties panel on the right, so you reach the Output section, to select from the drop-down menu that you want to create a new layer with your selection, erasing the entire background.

Then hide the background layer and create a fill layer with a color plain (preferably white), to no longer display the background transparent. Then click on the layer containing your portrait and change its colors by going to the Image> Adjustments menu then click on Desaturation. You can also use the key combination Shift + Ctrl + U if you like keyboard shortcuts.

Go get your second image, which will serve as a fill for our Double Exposure effect. Then set the opacity of the layer to around 50% and adjust your landscape to your portrait.

Now, we have to take the selection contour of our portrait in order to create a mask on the photo of the landscape having the shape of the portrait. To do this, click on the layer thumbnail of the cropped portrait with the Ctrl key.

Once your selection is represented by dotted lines, go back to your landscape layer and create a mask of fusion.

Then create a copy of the portrait layer and place it on top of any other layers already there. Switch the layer to Lighten mode then set its opacity to 70% and create a new layer mask. This allows you to adjust the level of visibility of the 2 photos.

On the blend layer, you will then have the option of making a larger part of the portrait appear than the landscape or vice versa by using a brush tool and painting in black or white depending on the element you want to appear. Then, it’s a story of taste and artistic harmony.

Then go back to your background color and use the pipette to select one of the colors of your composition and fill your white background with that color.

Then switch back to the layer with the landscape photo and the portrait selection layer. Duplicate this layer and remove only the mask, so that the landscape photo is found exactly as you placed it and switch it to Lighten mode.

On this composition, it would be interesting to erase some elements of the landscape and for that, we are going to create an inverted fusion mask. Click once on the landscape layer to select it and while holding down the Alt key, click on a layer mask icon. Then go with the white brush on the landscape elements you want to display.

Then go to the topmost layer and create a new solid color fill mask. We will choose a color lighter than that of the previous background.

Then switch this color layer to Product mode. This makes it possible to add an additional veil over the entire composition. Feel free to quickly experiment with other modes to find the effect you like. Then adjust the opacity of the layer to get the look you want.

Of course, you will have to go quietly and redo the exercise to master the different commands and get a really harmonious result. You can then share your creations and continue to make beautiful compositions thanks to Adobe Photoshop.

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Article written in partnership with Adobe.