Photo Inset?

[chzuck]

I recently shot a recreation of a childhood photo. I would like to print 8x10 and have a small copy of the original B&W photo placed somewhere on the new photo. Could someone direct me to the appropriate tutorial for this? I am using PhotoShop Elements 3.

[4personnen]

Hi, and welcome here...
This uses the basic capacity of layers that is the foundation of Photoshop either Elements or the bigger version...The best tutorial for such a beginning is the Help manual :-).
What you might want to do is creating a new document with the exact size of your output and the resolution depending of the printer/photo lab used...basically let say from 240 to 300 ppp should do the trick. File> new...

In this new document you have 1 LAYER, which is locked (don't touch it).
open the new photo and drag and drop it to the new document, it will create a second layer which is not locked...If you press the SHIFT key while dragging and dropping it will center the new document (no! the new layer) on top of the other one. Do the same with the other picture. Now you have 3 layers...They act as a block of paper one sheet on top of the other on top etc....
If you are happy with the original as it's placed, lock it (it prevents from making a mess) select it, it might highlight in blue, then press on the lock icon which is on top of the panel. If you are not happy, try to change its dimension (but not too much, as it alter the resolution). Check the transform tool section in the help file. Once you're happy, lock the layer. You can hide or reveal each layer by pressing on the eye icon near the layer name (it helps for placing the images).
For the 3rd layer transform it as you now know how to do, and change its position with the move tool. once happy lock the layer again.
As your bottom layer should be white, it makes a perfect border for your composition, If you want to make it black, make Edit>Fill and then choose whatever you want to fill the layer (unlock it first by double clicking on its icon).
I suggest everytime you lock your layers because I know that we were all making mess when we were beginners, this is something that you will forget as skills increase.

First try to read the manual, then test my explanation with your image. Your originals will not be touched so if you've been asked to save when closing the originals, it's advisable to say "no". You won't do the same for the creation, of course. Once you're happy save it, using File> save as, as most labs will accept JPEG it's a nice idea to save it that way (choose in the drop down menu). The save as, keep your creation in the PSD format which is the only one that let you be in control of your LAYERS again. So keep the two documents 1-JPEG for the lab, 2- PSD for you.
Hope it's clear (despite my poor English)....Photoshop is just a question of being neat and sensible. Nothing more.

[chzuck]

Your English is not poor! Thanks so much for all your help. I will check the manual and work through your explanation. Great forum and forum members!

[4personnen]

You're welcome!