Sometimes even the most ordinary shots can be transformed using Adobe Photoshop and our shot of this American Rockwell B1 bomber is a good example. Using simple steps we can produce a 4 layers montage using 3 pictures shot at an air show using a Nikon Coolpix 990 and a stock sky picture we took elsewhere.

The problem in shooting ground shots is the other 999,000 people at the same air show, so a little thought needs to be used at the taking stage. This aircraft is a big one so we got as close as possible and shot above the heads of the people.

Step 1. We need to make a transparency of the aircraft by removing the sky and unwanted detail in this shot. We shall introduce a far more dramatic sky and one or two other elements to help the composition and interest. We have already covered the technique of creating a transparency, but there are many ways to make a selection to start this process.

Call up the aircraft onto your PC and the layers palette (F7) and rename the background thumbnail. Select your pen tool from the menu bar shown below and greatly enlarge your picture.

You can then mark a path around the edge of your subject in gradual steps. This at first seems a daunting task, but it doesn't take long once you get going. Photoshop will place an anchor point each time you click down with your mouse and you can navigate around tight curves with shorter steps and on straighter areas much longer steps can be made as shown below.

The pen tool is great for fussy subjects where the magic wand doesn't work so well and it also allows you total control of your selection.

There is nothing preventing you using the wand in an area of your image where that works well, switching to the pen in areas where it doesn't. Once you have completed your path and returned to the starting point it needs to be converted into a selection. Call up your path palette via windows-show path. Sometimes this will already be available on a tab alongside your layers. Drag the tiny work-path thumbnail down over the selection icon at the bottom of the palette.

Feather the edge of your selection by one pixel and you can remove the unwanted detail via Edit-cut. If your aircraft disappears, click undo and inverse your selection so that all the outer detail is removed leaving your aircraft.

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Step 2. Call up the sky shot, which was shot at another location. It's always worth taking stock shots like this whenever you can and store them for future use. Drag your transparency into the sky as we described in Project 1, the layers tutorial. You will see that the image is looking pretty dramatic already, but there is a little more to do.

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Step 3. Call up the Pilot image that was the actual pilot of the aircraft we photographed at the time and add him as a third layer to your aircraft transparency and your sky.

The first thing you will notice is the pilot is too big to fit into this composition so we need to resize him. He is also facing the wrong way as we need to introduce him to the top right of our image looking inwards to the left rather than out of the picture. With the pilot layer selected choose Edit-Transform-Flip Horizontal and Photoshop will have the pilot looking the other way in seconds.

Don't worry that the tunic badges are now reversed, we can deal with those later. Choose Edit-transform-Scale from the menu bar and while holding the shift key you can reduce the size while keeping him in proportion. While using this tool Photoshop will allow you to position the image as well so you can move it and get the size just right in one operation.

TIP……..While flipping and resizing the pilot and getting him into position reduce the opacity of the layer a little from within the layers palette. This will make it easier for you to see what you are doing and get him sized and positioned correctly. You can reset the transparency to 100% when you have finished the process.

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Step 4. We need to blend the pilot into our image, but before doing so it is best to use the clone tool we have used before to cover those tunic badges. Just clone from beneath the badge and cover them. If you feel ambitious there is nothing stopping you from copying the badges, flipping them over into the correct orientation and placing them back on his tunic. You may need to use the edit-transform-distort tools to get the shape right.

We now need to blend the pilot into the image and to do this we should introduce a layer mask. Before doing that remove all the colour from the pilot layer by hitting Shift+Ctrl+U. He will blend in and balance better without the colour. To add a layer mask click the icon at the bottom left of the layers palette and a mask will appear as a white thumbnail to the right of your thumbnail image.

Layer masks can be a little confusing because the work you do within the mask is generally not seen, but the effect is. As you paint or spray black into your picture area with the mask selected, you are actually spraying onto your mask. The mask will make those parts of the image transparent where you spray black. By reducing the pressure of the paint tool you are using and working carefully within the mask enormous control can be applied to your work. If you make a mistake, select white as your foreground colour and you can repair the mask using the same technique.

Save your work so far and have a little practice session with your layer mask.

Remember that you are spraying into the main picture area with the mask selected in layers. If you click between the mask and the picture you will see the icon change to tell you which one you are working in. Select the airbrush and black and with the pressure set around 10 gradually blend your pilot into the picture. Don't forget that the enlarge tool will help you achieve a good result. You can if you wish reduce the opacity of the pilot layer to about 70% which gives a slightly better result

Step 5. Call up the American flag and remove the sky making that into a transparency. The magic wand should be fine for this task, but don't forget to feather that selection before cutting. Add the flag to your layers and using the same techniques described for the pilot, size it, position it and blend it into the image using a layer mask.

If you look back at the original image you will appreciate the power of Adobe Photoshop and that with a few techniques that just need a little learning we can transform and ordinary image into something much more worthwhile.