[silkstone]

Following on from Matt's excellent tutorial on how to blend images using Photoshop (Got Digital? - Don't need filters), here's how to do the same sort of thing in Paint Shop Pro 9.

We'll start with two images - one exposed for the foreground, and one for the sky...





1. Open the darker image. <Edit> <Copy> and then close it. You won't need it again.

2. Open the lighter image. <Edit> <Paste... Paste as New Layer>. This will create a new layer visible on the Layers Palette as 'Raster 1'.

3. The 'Raster 1' layer should already be highlighted - make sure it is. Then click on the 'Mask Show All' icon at the top of the palette, which will create a new mask layer and symbol in the same thread as 'Raster 1'.

4. Click on the Background Layer, and then press CTRL+A CTRL+C to select all and copy the layer.

5. Now click on the Mask Layer, and then <Edit><Paste... Paste Into Selection>.

6. That's it, done! All that remains is to right-click on any layer in the Layers Pallette and select <Merge... Merge All> to merge all the layers for the final image.

The result should be something like....



The images I've used are supplied with PSP9 and are normally located in the Sample Images folder, so please try this for yourself!