We started by working on adding different photos to layers and then combining them to create a new image. The first shown is the one from the lesson where we combined a sailboat scene with a new sunset sky. The first two images are the originals followed by the combined image.

After practicing with the images provided, we then used some of our own images to create a new image. I used two photos I took last week during an outing with Choctaw, my seven month old Lab. It was a chilly, overcast day, but the leaves were beautiful and the water inviting to Choctaw.

This first image, used as the base layer, is of Choctaw swimming in the lake. Due to the overcast day, the color of the leaves along the water were not as vibrant as they were in other areas.

This second image, used as the top layer, is of the trail that goes around the lake. The lake is on the left, and barely visible in this image.

For my combined image I brought the lake onto the trail. Toward the rear where the path narrows I stopped the water as it looks to me like a narrow walkway could be there between two sections of lake. While erasing portions of the top layer I decided to leave some of the leaves as one would expect to see some in water with trees overhead. I also used the Retouch tool, Soften, to soften the edges where the water meets the land. I used the Soften tool on both the water and land layers.

For the last part of the lesson we created a donut image on six layers and then a gradient background on the bottom layer. We added another layer beneath that one for a flood fill. In the first two examples I created the background fills using the colors in the donut, based on the seamless background tile lesson from the Journeyman class.

I decided to make one more donut image. I changed the colors and added a layer between the gradient layer and the merged donut layer. On that layer I centered Choctaw in the opening.

Thanks for a fun lesson, Ron and Sally. It's good to be back in class!