need assistance with layering images

RP
Posted By
robbie_phelps
Apr 27, 2007
Views
175
Replies
1
Status
Closed
I am relatively new to Photoshop (CS2), so please forgive my ignorance. I have an image that is mostly solid black accented by a bar of warm, vibrant tones. I want to "overlay" (I use that term loosely, because I do not know what the correct verbage may be) a grayscale image on top of the first. Basically, what I want to have happen is that the original image will remain unaltered (color-wise) while adding the presence of the grayscale image in a suddle manner. Right now, the only way I can get the grayscale image to even appear over the black sections of the background is to set the grayscale’s opacity to about 15 percent (in normal mode). When I do this, the underlying image appears dull in comparison to its original colors. I have erased all the un-needed parts of the grayscale image, but is there any way to keep the image that I want to overlay from altering the colors of the underlying image? I figure that there has to be, but I am not aware of the methodology. If anyone could point me in the right direction, I would be highly appreciative.
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JZ
Joe_Zydeco
Apr 27, 2007
Robbie, you need a layer mask to get the effect you want. Open your color image, press Ctrl-J to copy it to a new layer (Layer 1). That will leave the Background layer undisturbed. In the Layers palette, you will see that Layer 1 is automatically selected, or highlighted.

Now convert Layer 1 to grayscale. While there are several ways to do this, let me show you a very flexible method. From the menu, click Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Channel Mixer. Click Ok. Check the Monochrome box in the lower left corner. Click Ok.

You now have a grayscale layer on top of the color image. On Layer 1, there is also a white mask that hides the color layer underneath. You now want to "punch holes" in the mask to let some color show through. Select a soft Brush (press B and then Shift-[ five or six times), and then press X to set the foreground color to black. Brush away to reveal color areas. If you uncover too much, press X again and brush with white to restore the grayscale.

In the Options Bar above the image, you will almost certainly want to lower the Flow, maybe to 30% or less, to give you better control. You may want to turn on the Airbrush, and lower the Opacity, which limits the amount of transparency in the grayscale layer.

Finally, in the uppermost layer, double-click the leftmost icon to reactivate the Channel Mixer. Tinker with the sliders to control how much each color contributes to the grayscale image. Try to keep the total percentages at or below 100%. These adjustments may not be at all necessary in the image you describe, but can make a huge difference in portraits and the like.

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