Use layers as background effects in Photoshop

Just imagine what fun you can have if you are able to mix and match photographs and backgrounds. Let us say, you have a snapshot of yourself clicked in a banquet hall and you change the background to snow-capped mountains for a totally different ambience. Or crop your picture and use it with various backgrounds such as lush green forests, golden beaches, and Victorian mansions and so on, to ensure a dramatic impact. Sounds thrilling? Well, all you need is a bit of know-how and loads of imagination to turn routine snapshots into great works of art. The idea is to use the 'Layers' option in Photoshop to get the desired background effect. So here we go.

The first thing required is to separate the background layer from the image. Now click on the 'New Layer' icon to make a fresh layer for the new background. The option is located at the lower right side of the control panel of the layer. Choose a color of your liking and fill the new layer with it. This color will be applied to the new background. In the Layers control panel, select or highlight the layer for the new background.

Click on the rectangular marquee tool in the toolbox which is on the left side of the Adobe Photoshop screen. Select a part in the image and to select - Modify - Feather. A window will open up and you can write the value depending on your preferred radius of the feathering effect. You can also change the value of the radius to experiment with various effects. Once you have entered a value in the Feather Radius, click OK. Then press the Delete key. Do remember to make the original background visible to view the total effect. With this little trick up your sleeve, you can tweak your own pictures. So go ahead and give free rein to your imagination. 

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