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1937 Mercedes-Benz 540K bodyscape
Look what Santa brought me for Christmas! A brand new car! 
Actually, I have been watching Christmas movies all day and began to play around with Photoshop and some of my photos. I completed this one in less than 10 minutes! Even I was surprised at how easy it was. So I decided to share how I created it. Many of you may already know how, but since there are many new people getting into photography I think this could be a good lesson you can try at home with any of your pictures.
First, be sure to have a photo editing program. Photoshop is fine, but many others will work too, as long as it allows layers. There are many free or inexpensive photo editing software programs available on the Internet so get one first before proceeding. Once you have the program installed, open one of your photos, preferably one that has a solid background color like white, green or blue. Avoid photos with many subjects or items in the foreground. In my case I used the image in Step 1. One very important tip, use a large sized/resolution photo in its original size, I’ll let you know why at the end.
Step 1
In this first step you can make any small adjustments you need to do such as color correction, exposure, etc. Then use the Magic Wand Tool as indicated on Step 2 to highlight the area you plan to remove/replace. In my case I wanted to replace the white background with a blue sky. I used the Magic Wand Tool to select the white area and paid special attention to small details such as the windshield of the car, I wanted to make sure it too was replaced so the blue sky would show through the windshield. When the area I wanted was selected, I then hit the delete button and the area was removed and a solid white background emerged. Depending on how you have your program set up, it could also be a void area, the white on my picture simply means there isn’t anything there. Leaving this window open with the selection in tact, I then went to Step 3.
Step 2
Step 3
I found a photo with a blue sky and clouds, Step 3, since I have a large collection of images in my computer, finding the correct background was easy, but if I didn’t have one then a quick trip outside with my camera would have created what I wanted! With the image of the sky open, I selected the entire area, making sure it is the same width size as my original car picture. This is important, otherwise your images will not
Step 4
overlap easily. I used the “copy” function to add the sky image to my clipboard.
Then on Step 4, I returned to my original image, with the area I had previously selected still in tact, and used the “Paste into” function under the Edit drop down menu. This placed the sky image I had copied into my image. It will normally place it in the middle of my original picture, since I need the sky further down and reach the car and sand dunes, Step 5, I use the Move Tool, from the upper left pane, to position the sky image where I need it.
Step 5
Finally, Step 6, I cropped the picture so I could remove the white blank area from the top and saved the entire file. Be sure to save often as you go through the steps so you don’t lose any of your work. If you are using Photoshop, save the file as a .psd file, the Photoshop default extension and include the layers, don’t “flatten” the image. If using another program, try to find an option where it saves the layers separately but in the same file. Then while the picture is still open use the “Save for web & devices” option under the File drop down menu. This will be the image you can save as a .jpg file and use to display online or email friends. In my case the final image at the top of this post was created this way.
Step 6
And don’t forget, you can make minor changes on the image like removing blemishes or enhancing the color before or after the image is complete. In my case i did most of the image editing at the start of the process. But the resizing for web or email display should be done at the end. I hope the explanation was helpful or at least a little entertaining! Either way I’m glad I was able to illustrate how I create some of my images.
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