Compositing

- - - You see composites everywhere from magazine ads and covers, to movie posters, to athletic portraits, to, well, just about any kind of portrait. It really is everywhere.
    - One of the key areas of compositing starts with a good selection. If you don’t make a good selection, your composite is never going to look real. See the note on Quick Selections.
    - The hardest part of the entire compositing process is the creative side.

Blending Graphics

Practice Files:

Here are the steps I did for this photo. Every composite will be different.
First I created a folder and placed the selected girl in it.
For all my adjustments, I created Clipping Masks to tie them to that single image. (Right-Click, create clipping mask or click the little clipping mask icon)
CURVES - Used to adjust the brightness and contrast to match the background
HUE/SAT - Used to take a bit of the saturation away.
Color Balance - Shifted the Colors to match the green/blue hues of the background.
Vibrance - Used this layer to dull the colors once again.
Dodge and Burn - Layer > New > Layer - Change blending mode to Overlay and select the Fill with Overlay-neutral color (50% Gray) checkbox. Use the Dodge tool to lighten areas and the burn tool to darken areas. I created more shadow on the right side

A trick to tie your composition together is to recolor everything using a Gradient Map.
First, we need to load in the Photographic Toning Gradient options.
Go Windows > Gradients.
Click the horizontal lines icon (see photo below).
Select Legacy Gradients.
Create a Gradient Map Adjustment Layer.
Click on the Gradient Bar in the properties panel.
In the presets list, scroll down and open the Legacy Gradients and look for Photographic Toning.
Pick-one and change the Gradient Map's Blending Mode to Soft Light and maybe lower the Layer's Opacity a bit.

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