I'm making a collage but first need to know how to make a picture a layer inside another picture?

Thanks,
Sylvia

Easiest way I know is to have both pictures open in Photoshop.

Activate the one you want to copy into the other. Now Ctrl+Click on that picture, and drag it to the picture you want to copy it into.

Your picture will now be a layer on the other.

See example below. I Ctrl+clicked the Right Hand picture, and dragged it into the Left Hand Picture (I've resized it a little so you can see it).


Alternately, open both pictures. Make the one you want to copy active. Click Select > All then Edit > Copy.

Now make the picture you want to copy into active, then click Edit > Paste. and the 1st picture will be a new layer in the 2nd.

You can view "Layer palette" by F7 button in Adobe Photoshop
and F8 in Corel(jasc) PaintShopPro.
Using the pallete you can control layers, masks and their properies.

Is there a way to control where the picture paste itself inside the first picture? The first method didn't work for me but using the second method.... Activating the picture to be copied into the base picture > Selecting All > Edit > Copy..... Then activating the base picture and choosing Edit > Paste. This copied the picture inside the first picture as a layer but it covered over the centered of the base picture. That's not what I wanted to happen. Is there a way to move the copied picture around?

Thanks,
Sylvia

You can move the picture around if it is on a separate layer. Try to have each new picture be on a separate layer. Cutting and pasting the images into the main image is a good way to do that.

To control the size of the picture go to Menu> Edit> Free Transform. Sift-Drag a corner of this box to make the picture smaller or larger to suit your needs. Hit Enter to accept the size.

Click on the move tool to position your picture anywhere you want.

Ray

Hi Sylvia,

Activate the layer with the picture, then click on the Move tool.

Now click on the handle in one of the corners of the picture, and move it in or out to resize the picture. (Note: Check the "chain" symbol in the toolbar at the top of the screen to maintain picture aspect ratio).

You can also use the W and H values to resize. (if the "chain" is active, altering one will alter the other, if inactive, both can be resized independently, but you will get distortion of the picture).

Okay, I'm able to do this with 2 pictures. I can cut and paste a 2nd picture into a separate layer and move it around and resize it to create a collage effect but when I try to bring in a 3rd picture, things fall apart. The 3rd picture will paste into a separate layer also but it completely covers over the base layer. When I try to resize it to uncover the base layer, I can't find any way to resize it. The Free Transform tool isn't available and it seems the base layer has somehow sort of been deleted although it is clearly still in a layer in the layer pallet.

Sylvia

If the 3rd picture is so big that it overlaps the base picture considerably, you may not be able to see the edges within your desktop.

Click on the Hand tool, and move it until you find one of the corners, then click the Move tool, click on the handle, and resize as before.

Alternatively, make a copy of the image you want to paste to your collage, then resize the copy (so it will fit within your base image) before you paste it to your collage.

Accomplished! Thanks!

You're welcome. Hope your collage came out as you wished it to.