Digital Scrapbooking Tips

A number of readers have written in asking how to use one photo to cover several placeholders in a template. Today’s tip walks you through the process.

Begin by opening a template and make a copy of it so you don’t accidentally overwrite the original.

In Photoshop, choose Image > Duplicate. In Elements, choose File > Duplicate. Give the copy a new name and click OK.

Ctrl click (Mac: Cmd click) the layers you would like to cover in the Layers Panel. This highlights the layers showing you that they are selected. Press Ctrl E (Mac: Cmd E) or choose Layer > Merge Layers. This combines the selected layers onto one layer.

Open a photo and use the Move tool to drag the photo onto the template.

Drag it into position one spot above the merged layers in the Layers Panel.

Alt Click (Mac: Opt Click) between the photo layer and the merged layer to digitally “glue” them together. Your photo will cover all of the template blocks you’ve merged.