Morning Glory Designz

Blending 101: Basic Theory.

I thought I'd take this opportunity to address a technique in signature tag making- That being blending. It really isn't that intimidating or difficult, once one masters the skill set needed for the technique. If one noodles around the internet, there are some amazing blends to behold. Since I've returned to the PSP community, I've seen the intimidation of many of my peers when faced with this technique. It really isn't that difficult.

For our purposes here, I'm going share what I've learned- and the progressive journey I've traveled from my first blend several years ago, up to what I regularly employ currently in my blending. Please allow me to encourage you , and, yes, admonish you. I'm merely sharing what I've learned to be most effective when making a basic blend. What may be particularly effective for me may NOT be the magic bullet for you. All I can ask is that you at least try what I'm sharing with you, here.

First, What IS blending. It is taking three images of the same subject, preferably from the same photo shoot., and manipulating them until they make a composite whole image. - The quick dirty version taking three similar images and combining them into a whole, new, different image.

Secondly, The Basic Blend is only half of the equation. What makes it pop and come alive is what you add to it to achieve the finished product. There are a variety of things that can be used. There are textures, external plug in filters, word art, fonts for personalization and brushes. These are the things that bring life to the basic blend.
Thirdly,there are several methods to create a basic blend.
A. Exclusive use of the eraser tool: I've tried this, and found it a little too fussy, and nowhere near as precise or simple as I'd like- why make it harder than it has to be? What's helpful is using the Fuzz Soft at a lower opacity level.
B. Using the Selections tool. I've found this to be a simple alternative. The key to this is using the feathering setting. I normally use anywhere between 35-38 for this. - With very little erasing involved. Nice and simple, especially if going for a dense, rich basic blend.
C. Clone Brush. I've found this very well suited for a light, delicate basic blend- somewhat similar to blends I've seen done in Photo Shop. It “Mists” the selection of the image cloned. Again, minimal erasing is necessary.
There are a couple of other techniques that can be used in blending that I have yet to attempt. - Masks and using the selections tool to trace around the portion of the image to be blended into the main image. I have no clue how effective or simple these are. I can only speak of which I have had personal experience attempting.
With that being said, this is the blurb detailing the beginning of my Blending 101 series. I see absolutely no sense in setting anyone up for failure, so, I'm going to first share the selections tool method I've used for years- You'll see JUST how simple blending can be! The second tut in the series will illustrate using the clone brush method. The third, for sake of comparison will be the eraser method.