Faking it like the Pros

Trick photography takes many forms, but most involve combining and reworking real images to create an unrealistic or improbable scene. This example creates a collage from three separate pictures and then adds some artwork to finish the job.

Start with three images open-a background and two other images. Click a selection tool, such as Rectangular Marquee, or press M.

Click and drag to select an object in the first image.

Choose Edit, Copy, or press Ctrl+C.

TIP Managing the Elements As you combine images, Photoshop Elements inserts them as separate layers. To keep track of layers and control their stacking order, choose Window, Layers to open the Layers palette.

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Select the background image by clicking its title bar.

Choose Edit, Paste, or press Ctrl+V. Repeat steps 2-5 to add more objects or images.

TIP Merry Merging After choosing Edit, Copy, a quick way to combine imagery, as shown in some previous tasks, is to use the Edit, Paste Into command. But remember, when you do this, the insertion does not create a separate layer.

The ability to combine images in improbable ways apparently brings out the humor in some people. If you use email at all, you've no doubt received pictures of pets doing superhuman feats, celebrities and politicians in compromising positions, or ordinary people with extraordinary physical characteristics!

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Choose the Move tool, or press V.

Click and drag object handles to move or resize the objects and compose the picture.

TIP Shape Selection In step 6, if the inserted picture contains multiple shapes, you can use the Shape Selection tool to select and manipulate them individually, as long as you haven't yet simplified or merged the layer.

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Switch to a Brush tool (or a Shape tool).

Click and drag to draw on the image. Repeat steps 8 and 9 to add more lines and shapes to your drawing.