How to add a person to any scene in photoshop

• April 21st, 2025
• Photoshop

Welcome to Creative Nerds! In this quick Photoshop tutorial, we’re going to learn how to blend colors between two photos ensuring they match in terms of color tones and lighting. Let’s dive right in!

Tutorial details

• Program: Photoshop
• Time estimation: Under 3 minutes
• Difficulty: Easy

Step 1: Select and Mask Your Model

1. Choose Your Main Photo: Start with a photo of a model which can be downloaded from sources like Unsplash.
2. Isolate the Model: Utilize the Object Selection Tool in Photoshop to select the model in the photo.
3. Apply a Layer Mask: With the model selected, head over to Layer Masks to mask out the model, isolating them from the background. This separates the model from the initial backdrop.

Step 2: Use the Harmonization Filter

1. Open the Filter Menu: With your masked model layer selected, navigate to Filter and choose Neural Filters.
2. Select ‘Harmonization’: In the Neural Filters menu, toggle on the Harmonization option.
3. Set Reference Image: When prompted for a Reference Image, select the background image you want to match. This prompts Photoshop to harmonize the color tone and lighting of the model with the selected background.

Step 3: Adjust Color Blending Settings

1. Fine-Tune Colors: Adjust colors in the photo by bringing up the levels of cyan, magenta, or any other necessary adjustments to better blend the images.
2. Adjust Blending Strength: Alter the strength of the blending. Usually, a setting around 80 tends to produce visually pleasing results that stand out while still matching the background.

Step 4: Apply and Review Changes

1. Set as Smart Filter: Once satisfied with the settings, choose to output the adjustments as a Smart Filter. This helps in maintaining flexibility, as you can toggle the changes on and off.
2. Confirm Settings: Click OK to apply the changes.

Conclusion

That’s it! You’ve successfully matched your model to a new background by blending colors and lighting with the help of the Harmonization filter. To revert any changes, simply toggle the Smart Filter off to see the original layer.

Thank you for following this tutorial at Creative Nerds. Stay tuned for more quick tips and tricks on enhancing your Photoshop skills!

Video Transcript

Hello, welcome to Creative Nerds. In this short Photoshop tutorial, we’ll be sharing how you can color blend photos together so it matches the same color tones and the same lighting from the background. So we’ll start off by selecting a photo, so we’ve got this model that we’ve downloaded from Unsplash, and we’re going to mask the image to isolate the model from the background. So we’re going to grab the Object Selection Tool and then select the model, and then we’re just going to head over to Layer Masks to mask it. And then we’re going to select that layer, and then head over to Filter and select Nora Filters. And then the option we want to select is Harmonization, so select the toggle. And then it will bring up this prompt called Reference Image. So we want to select our background, and then you’ll instantly notice that it’s changed the color tones of the original image and the lighting’s changed, so if we toggle it back off, you can notice the difference in effect. And then from there, what we can do, we can increase colors within the photo, so we can bring up the cyan or the magenta, or we can increase the strength of the blending. But I think 80 looks quite good for most images, just so it pops out of the background a little bit more and doesn’t blend in too much. Then select the output to be a Smart Filter, and then select OK. And there you go, it’s created our effect which matches the color tones together and the lighting, and if you want to remove that layer, you just simply need to toggle it off and it will revert back to the original layer, since it’s been applied as a Smart Filter. Thanks for watching, and stay tuned to Creative Nerds for further quick tips on how to use Photoshop.