How do you insert an object into a photo?

[aragona]

I want to combine two (or more) photos in order to create illustrations for a children's book.

I have a sample backgound image that I have water colored. On top of that image, I want to insert a picture of an animal(s), like a cat(s), somewhere yet to be determined.

I haven't decided whether I want the animals to remain realistic looking, of if I would want to "cartoon" them in some way. I do know that I want the animals to "pop" on the page so I do not want them to be watercolored images.

I don't know how to cartoon an image, either.

Here are two image examples.

[Samanax]

Which image editing program are you using?

[aragona]

Photoshop CS3. Sorry, I forgot to include the most important piece of information.

[Samanax]

You can easily insert the picture of the cat onto the image of the barn using layers. A little too much to go into so I'll provide a link to a tutorial instead.

Photoshop Masking & Montage Tutorial

Adobe Video Workshop - In the Select A Product window look for "Photoshop CS3" and select it. In the Select A Topic window click on "Layers". In the Title window scroll down until you see "Using Layers" and double click on it to start the video.

YouTube is a great source for Photoshop tutorials.

[aragona]

Thank you! I will take a look at the tutorial. Sorry for the long delay in responding. I am just now getting back to this. Life and work are interfering with my hobby,