Photo Merge Lesson

[Carolyn]

Can you tell me how to merge these two photos so that they are beside each other as one photo? I tried to do it in photoshop but only managed to put one behind the other as background. I would greatly appreciate your help.

 

[IamSam]

these two photos so that they are beside each other as one photo?

Quick and simple. If you want more , please ask!

Open one image. Use Crop Tool to extend the canvas.


Open and position the second image.


Use the Crop Tool again to crop the image.


Done


If you want the subjects to be even, you will have to use Free Transform to adjust the second photo. Move Tool to position. Add a layer mask and use the Gradient Tool and Brush Tool to blend.


Again with the Crop Tool......


Done

 

[Carolyn]

Quick and simple. If you want more , please ask!

Open one image. Use Crop Tool to extend the canvas.
View attachment 140649

Open and position the second image.
View attachment 140650

Use the Crop Tool again to crop the image.
View attachment 140651

Done
View attachment 140652

If you want the subjects to be even, you will have to use Free Transform to adjust the second photo. Move Tool to position. Add a layer mask and use the Gradient Tool to blend.
View attachment 140653

Again with the Crop Tool......
View attachment 140654

Done
View attachment 140655

View attachment 140656

Wow!!!!!!! Thank you so much! You made it seem easy, but I know it was your skill.

 

[Carolyn]

IamSam, You made it seem so straight forward, but when I try to merge two photos, well, I don't get anywhere. In Photoshop Quick, I opened one photo and click on the crop tool which offered me 4 possibilities for changing the dimensions of the photo, but it wouldn't let me expand the area as shown in your first screenshot. I'm missing something obvious, obviously. Your advice please.

 

[Carolyn]

Eventually, I experimented until I got this message and this screen which would not accept a second pic beside the original; they overlapped. (I'm trying to learn.)

 

[Rich54]

Not sure what you mean by "Photoshop Quick". I tried querying that to see what it is, but I got no hits. Are you using something other than regular Photoshop?

• When you activate the crop tool, first drag-out the crop tool to cover your entire image. You should see a 3x3 grid over your image.
• Next, grab the far-right handle and drag it out to the right as far as you need, and then click on the check-mark to accept the crop. This will expand your file to the new, wider dimension.

• Once you've successfully done that, copy or drag your other photo (from file #2) into this first file. It should appear as its own new layer.
• You should now have two separate images on two separate layers. You can move or resize either, or both, to make your composite.

 

[Carolyn]

Thank you for replying. I am using 'Adobe Photoshop Elements 2022' which I bought with my new Dell desktop in March, 2023. I'll try again with your instructions.
The Photoshop I have offers 3 options ... i) Quick; ii) Guided; and, iii) Expert photo editing. The first screenshot below is the first page I see when I open Photoshop.
The second screenshot is the next page for Photo Editor. Thanks again.

 

[IamSam]

IamSam, You made it seem so straight forward, but when I try to merge two photos, well, I don't get anywhere. In Photoshop Quick, I opened one photo and click on the crop tool which offered me 4 possibilities for changing the dimensions of the photo, but it wouldn't let me expand the area as shown in your first screenshot. I'm missing something obvious, obviously. Your advice please.

Like Rich stated, I'm not sure what you mean by "Photoshop Quick".

 

[IamSam]

Thank you for replying. I am using 'Adobe Photoshop Elements 2022' which I bought with my new Dell desktop in March, 2023. I'll try again with your instructions.

Ps Elements may differ slightly than Photoshop.

Rich is also right about my instructions on extending the canvas by dragging it out.

 

[Carolyn]

Just to be clear, you're telling me that Photoshop Elements and Photoshop are not quite the same thing? (That would explain a lot.)

 

[IamSam]

Just to be clear, you're telling me that Photoshop Elements and Photoshop are not quite the same thing?

Correct. They are very similar in most aspects, but very different in others. Photoshop has many more features and tools that PsE does not.

 

[IamSam]

Not being at all familiar with Ps Elements, I did check and you should have everything I used above to merge photos. You should not have any problems.

 

[Rich54]

Fifteen years ago, back when I first started using Photoshop, I bought Elements because it was $70 vs. $750 for full Photoshop. Now I know what you mean by "Quick".

I'm pretty sure that Elements allows you to use the crop tool as @IamSam and I described. If you don't see it, try going into the Expert mode of Elements.
As an alternative, you can also go to Image>Canvas Size and expand your file dimensions that way.

 

[Carolyn]

Thanks for all your encouragement. I managed to create the side by side with 2 related photos, by i) clicking on File, then New to create a blank canvas; ii) then back to File and Place which allowed me to place one of my photos on the blank canvas ... Done; iii) then back to File and Place to add the second photo ... Done; iv) then I cropped to tidy it up and created one jpg. Thank you again.

 

[IamSam]

You're very welcome.

 

[Babine]

Another approach is and assuming that Elements is as PS ..

Image/Canvas Size




Select as shown assuming that you want the two canvases to be equal ... or set your size of choice




To get this where the 2nd picture can be placed.

 

[Carolyn]

Another approach is and assuming that Elements is as PS ..

Image/Canvas Size

View attachment 141618


Select as shown assuming that you want the two canvases to be equal ... or set your size of choice

View attachment 141619


To get this where the 2nd picture can be placed.

View attachment 141621

Thank you. Yes, I saw that 'canvas size' was important.