asked by anon

So, here’s a tutorial to blend images in shadow. It’s beyond simple and very quick when you get used to it. I’ve been requested to explain it through this graphic.
It’s been made with photoshop CS4 but you can accomplish the same thing with any previous version of the software.

1. After opening the two photos, what I do is I darken the darkest one (here it is Sherlock’s), which is usually a silhouette, by using the curves. Your settings will kind of look like this. Resize the image if necessary.

2. Then, when this is done, you open a 500x600px file that will serve as brackground for your graphic.

3.  Take your other image (here it is Moriarty’s) and put some coloring on it, here I chose this one. Then resize it so it’s not too big when it blends with the other image, and paste it into your background file.

4. When that’s done, all you have to do is paste your Sherlock image on the background too, above Moriarty’s, in screen layers. It will give you something like this.

5. What I did (that is not obligatory) for the white effect on the bottom of the graphic.
a. I just added this texture. I put it in black and white, and then copied it on my graphic in screen layers. You should have something like this. 
b. To make it look perfect, I selected the white parts on the top with the polygonal lasso tool, then right clik > feather > 40 pixels and delete. Your result should be something like this.
Then complete it with some color texture and a text, sharpen it and here you are ^_^.

So I hope you enjoyed it and don’t be afraid to ask question ifever you didn’t understand something.