Hey Kristin,

Unfortunately I can't do the PSD thing since I don't have Photoshop (the closest I could do is a PSP file, but I don't think that would be compatible with what you have).

I can tell you how to blend these two, though. :)

What you do is open up the image of Jared.

Then open up the second image with the "love of my life" text on it. Take that image, copy it and paste it as a new layer on top of Jared.

Then go to the layer properties, and set that text layer to "Screen". When you do that, it will be hard to see the text, so you might want to create a new layer in between the Jared one and the text one. Take a dark colored brush, like black or brown, and just go over that area where the text is. It will highlight it a bit.

I just tried this with my PSP, so you can see how it's supposed to look:



(I also moved the text to where I thought it would look best)

I'm sorry I can't be of any more help! But I hope you are able to find something! *hugs*

Edited at 2010-09-29 10:03 pm (UTC)

Thank you so much for your help, Jess! ♥

You're welcome, hon! Hopefully someone knows more about it than I do and can give some better help. :)

I really appreciate you taking the time to do this! ^^

Here is what I did:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/0xsbvl

When you have something black, if you put it on Screen it will become transparent. So I just put that texture as Screen and it all went away except for the text. Because it was so light, I but another layer and used a black brush to put some contrast behind it. I lowered the opacity so it wasn't too harsh.

The main ways I use and see textures used is by changing the opacity to Screen or Multiply or Soft Light. If its too harsh, lower the opacity to 50 or 25, those are usually good starting numbers. Also don't be afraid to erase bits that are covering the face or something important.

Let me know if you want any more tutorials or have any questions! =)

Thank you, Lora! I really appreciate you taking the time to make this psd for me. :)

I do use photoshop for my icons, so if you want I can try to help you. I've never tried to teach anyone techniques before though, so I hope I'd do okay, haha. I always try to experiment with new things because you never know which effect will work. So, that's some of the best advice I can give.Anyway, would you like me to try it when I have a chance? You'd just need to give me your e-mail or something so I could send you the PSD file.

I'd love it if you could try to send me a PSD file, whenever you have the time. Thank you so much!

email: msoof_kl@yahoo.com

Sure thing, sweetie! I'll try to get back to you ASAP.

*writes down your e-mail*

Thank you so much, hon!

Okay hon, I just sent you the PSD. Here's pretty much what I did.



I don't really have a strict set of rules I follow - in other words, I always play with each icon cause everyone is different. So what I did here first was take both pictures, Jared's on the bottom, the text on the top layer. I hid the text layer by clicking the eye next to it - then I sharpened Jared's picture by going to Filter > Sharpen > Sharpen. It's not necessary, but it's a preference of mine.

After that, I set the text layer to screen, and moved it around 'til I found a position I liked. It still wasn't very visible, so I increased its brightness a little more (Image > Adjustments > Brightness / Contrast) , then I took a big soft brush on a new layer between Jared and the text -with a dark color - any color would be fine - you can always mess with it later (with Image > Adjustments > Hue/ Saturation or Photo Filter)- and just went around him a little bit. Then I played around with the settings on the layer tab (the drag down button that should say normal) til I hit Hard Light, which I liked the most. I thought it could use a texture , so I went to the top toolbar and selected Layer > Layer Style > Blending Options. I then checked off the pattern overlay box, and looked through my patterns til I found one I liked. I also set that one to screen.

The last thing I did was go back to the Jared layer, and went to Image > Adjustments > Desaturate to make him Black and White.

Hope that wasn't too confusing! Don't be afraid to play with all those little slider bars and options I mentioned! You never know what you might like. If you have any other questions please let me know!! Have fun!

THANK YOU!! It was really nice of you to take so much time to write all of this out. ♥

Awww! You are just so cute! No problem! Like I said, glad I could help :D
*hugs*

Thanks, I appreciate it! ♥

*hugs back*

Thank you for the birthday wishes! You're too sweet. :) <3

You're so welcome, hon! *hugs*