I have gotten so many replays all over and questions on how I did this layout.
I'll try to explain the best I can.
First - I used a grungy background with texture and one with a flowerish pattern - both from my kit Joyful time - available here.
Then I had the picture - the original looks like this:
I also used a picture taken of my mother roses in the late fall - as you can see they are almost dead.
And this one.
The first thing I did was to blend the two backgrounds together, I put the bright one on top of the other and reduced the opacity to 70 %
Remember - don't merge any layers unless I say so (LOL)
Then I took the picture of the roses and selected it by clicking the image in the layer palette.
I set the feather to 250 and reversed the selection (ctrl+alt+d=250 and then ctrl+shift+i) and then hit the delete button four times - until I got a realy soft edge to the photo.
And then I reduced the opacity to 30 %
I doubled the main image (ctrl+j) and on the top layer I used the lasso selection tool (feather at about 10) and cut the girl out of the background.
The second copy of the image I did the same as the roses. Selected the image and by clicking the image in the layer palette, and then feather - 250 and reverse selection and delete 4 times - and reduce opacity to 40. If you hide the top copy - the image of the girl without the background it will look like this.
Then I took the picture of the other flowers, and put up in the corner above the girl - blending it the same way as the other images (feather 250 and delete and opacity=30)
Put a copy of the bright background over the layers above and reduce its opacity to 30.
Now - merge the layers that you see above - NOT the cut out image. Increase contrast with 40 a,d add more color with hue and saturation (I used +30, but you have to try this out yourself).
Use the brighten tool with a soft brush to brighten the edges of the images
Now - the cut out image - increase contrast and color to make it a little brighter than the rest - to make it stand out. Reduce the opacity to about 75-80.
Then I added the flowers . They are from my designs at SBE.
Then in the end I put the frame from Mossa's Philosophic on top.
