How to create a "picture in picture" from 2 pictures?

DW
Posted By
David_White2
Oct 1, 2006
Views
185
Replies
6
Status
Closed
I use Photoshop CS2 on Win 2000. But I use only very basic stuff with PS. I have two pictures. I want to put picture A into picture B, having picture A occupying about one quadrant of picture B as background.
Having design a very active and fast video game based on multi-layers some 25 years ago (written in C), I thought that my task with such a powerful tool as PS is going to be a 3 minute breeze. I did the following:
1. I opened picture B (defaulted into background layer_0).
2. I created a new layer_1.
3. Opened picture A and copy & paste it into layer_1.
4. Now I THOUGHT that I am going to resize layer_1 to reduce it to the desirable size, move it to the desired placed and walla… I am done.
But this is where I hit a brick wall – I could not do anything about step 4.

Note: In step 3, there was a small problem of aspect ratio. The two pictures have slightly different aspect ratios and I didn’t see an option to preserve the aspect ratio of picture A while pasting it. I would expect of course that it should be provided. But as a temporary measure, I cropped slightly one picture to meet the other’s one.

Would anybody help in how to accomplish my elementary task by describing a step-by-step procedure?

Thanks in advance,
David
Related Tags
create how picture

MacBook Pro 16” Mockups 🔥

– in 4 materials (clay versions included)

– 12 scenes

– 48 MacBook Pro 16″ mockups

– 6000 x 4500 px

Y
YrbkMgr
Oct 1, 2006
If I understand what you wrote correctly, you’re on the right path. Just to sum up the desired result, you want Picture A to occupy a quadrant of Pic B, right?

So use the move tool, drag pic A onto B.

Use Control-T to Transform the current layer (pic A). Look in the top at the options bar – there’s a little lock that allows you to lock the aspect ratio. Then you just move the image until it butts up against the top and left (for example), then resize the image using the corner handle.

The lock in the options bar isn’t mandatory, it just makes it easier. You could also type values in the options bar (px, in, cm, mm, etc.) to make it a precise size.
C
chrisjbirchall
Oct 1, 2006
* Open the first image

* Go FILE>PLACE and navigate to the second image

* Click "open" and this image will be placed on a new layer in the first.

* When you resize it using the bounding box, hold the "Shift" key to maintain the aspect ratio.

As this layer is imported as a "smart object" you can keep resizing to your heart’s content using "free transform" (Ctrl+T) without degrading the image.

Hope this helps.

Chris.

PS: Nothing wrong with Tony’s method. This is just another way. 😉
Y
YrbkMgr
Oct 1, 2006
Yeah, see, I never use Place. I’m not even sure why one would.
C
chrisjbirchall
Oct 1, 2006
I never use Place. I’m not even sure why one would.

Try it Tony. It’s the 32nd flavour 😉

* Quicker than having several files open at once.

* Multiple transforms without interpolating (and damaging) the image each time.

* You can even "place" RAW files without converting them first.

Once tried, vanilla will never quite be the same again.

Chris.
DW
David_White2
Oct 1, 2006
Did I say I expected a 3 minutes job? I apologize – with both of your suggestions it took less than one minute…
Chris’ suggestion might be slightly more intuitive but have not had a chance to play with either one since I was in a hurry. I just tried each method once.

Many thanks to both of you.
David
Y
YrbkMgr
Oct 2, 2006
It’s the 32nd flavour

<chuckle> I get it.

How to Improve Photoshop Performance

Learn how to optimize Photoshop for maximum speed, troubleshoot common issues, and keep your projects organized so that you can work faster than ever before!

Related Discussion Topics

Nice and short text about related topics in discussion sections