INSERTING ONE PHOTO IN ANOTHER

[Phil47]

Hi there. I think this is my first call for assistance since I purchased x3
a couple of weeks ago. I'm still learning of course.

At the moment I would like to use one photo for the background and insert another photo into
it, let's say perhaps an oval shape. I did several searches but didn't come up with anything much..can it be done?

I was also very impressed with the work of Jennifer Reagles shown on the Corel site.

Thanks,

Phil

[LeviFiction]

An oval shape?

Grabbed the rectangle selection too. Change the shape to ellipse and make a selection.

Go to menu bar and select Edit->Copy.

Go to the image you want to use as a background and go up to the menu bar and select Edit->Past As New Layer. This will put the copied portion of your first image onto a new layer in your second image. This lets you move it around and position it as necessary.

Move it into place with the Pick Tool.

[Chromenut]

I've used that elipse tool to draw the outline, then selected inside the outline leaving the oval off, and copied then pasted into new. Or you can extract the object from one into another. Or you can use the select tool and draw it out by hand. Or...or...or....there are many ways to do what you're talking about but not enough info in your post for me to give any good guidance.

[Phil47]

Thanks guys.

Chromenut, I have 1 photo I want to use as background in landscape format.

I have another photo I want to insert in the background photo, but, for this exercise I would have it in an oval shape rather than the normal rectangular shape. It will not look very nice as rectangle in rectangle. Yes? Make more sense?

Thanks,

Phil

[Chromenut]

I did something very similar for my father's memorial web blog. Gonna see if I can find those pics....

[Chromenut]

Okay, I couldn't find them readily so threw this below together for an example. I hope this helps explain it somewhat. If you want I also have the originals so you can see what they looked like...

Steps to insert image into background image...

1. Prepare background image, size, clarity, saturation, etc.
2. Prepare insert image, size, etc., then use tool to select shape around insert image. In this example I'm just using the Ellipse tool with a very light gray line that is only 1 pixel wide. I can barely see the line when drawn, but since I have the program set to vector the new drawing object, you can see it selected via the line of "marching ants".
3. At this point you can simply copy the image and go to insert it, or you can delete the background outside of the image selection and make whatever changes you wish for that.
4. After you copy your insert image, go back to your background image and paste as a new layer. This will allow you to resize it, reposition it, edit it, whatever.

That's it, in it's most simplistic format. 4 basic steps, but in my sample below I've added a few just to dress it up. Mind you this was just thrown together for an example so it's not the highest of quality. Oh, another thing is that you can adjust how the image sits on the background, as in fading it into the background, etc, but that's an entirely different conversation...



just some stock photos that I own thrown together as an example.... on what I did here, I set an oval Ellipse around the pina colada, wiped the background outside the oval, changed the area around the glass to look more "sandy", inserted the umbrella and extended the straw beyond the oval for grins, save the visible layers, inserted the new image into the background as a layer, had to resize it as it was about half as big as the entire background, put it where I wanted it, tossed in some goofy text to pull the whole thing together, and resized the entire thing to 680w. Bada bing, dats it....

[Chromenut]

Also, I suggest you try some outline shapes that aren't just straight and simple curved lines. Sometimes the odd shapes really pull in the eye and make the subject more appealing, or at least more eye candy-ish...

Here's a couple of creations using png format to offer up non-standard shapes around inserted images (inserting a png into a jpg):

banner for a fish tank forum


My sig block on another forum


Other suggestions, animate your picture to grab your audience, like maybe just moving text:


Or better yet, overlay several images to create a moving photo, an animated gif is always fun to create and attracts attention via it's motion:


Just some alternative suggestions to simply adding one photo into another...lol....

All of the above were created by me in X2 as simple flat photos, but for the png files. Then assembled into animated gifs using Animation Shop Pro. None took more than a half hour to create, if even that long. Quite simple, but they do attract some attention.