Project Composite, Part Two: Background Blending

In this episode we continue with our project on image composite. Last week we added color to an antique portrait in preparation to bringing it into a new composition. This week we blend two backgrounds together with the Blend If sliders in Layer Styles. This is a strategy I often use when beginning a composite. We will then bring the portrait into this blended background and make adjustments based on this new context. I always wait to refine a hand colored image until I know where it is going to reside. Finally we will use Layer Styles Blending to integrate the portrait into the new background.