photograph

PHOTOGRAPHS
Step One
I took four panoramic photos of my room using a tripod.  tripod room panorama I used the post of the stairwell as a starting point.

Step Two
Leaving the tripod in the same location, I took pictures of myself in the room using the self-timer.  I made sure to use the same lever on the tripod.
one jo of many

Step Three
I took a picture of the pitcher using a piece of black cardboard paper as a background.  pitcher and water

LAYERING
Step One
I created a new project in Microsoft Picture It (which came with my computer).  I added each room picture by copy/paste and began layering them on top of each other.
layered room Leave this as a .png file (not jpeg) until complete.  Better use for layers in Picture It.

Step Two
By using the "Create A Cut-Out" tool in Picture It, I cut myself out of each of the seven pictures of myself.  
cut out one of many Each cut-out is placed in a new project.  I then copy/paste this new project picture onto the Layered Room photo.  
(Tip:  When resizing the pasted image be sure to use ONLY the corners to maintain proportions.)
(Tip:  Where applicable, I copied the shadow as well.  I had to copy the couch cushion I was sitting on, also, to create a more realistic end result.)
I started in the back of the room, and repeated this step six more times to get all of the Jo's in the room together.

Step Three
Using the same method above, I cut out the water from the pitcher and created in a new project.  
pitcher cut out I then flipped and used Adjust Tint to make the liquid green.  flip and greenNext I placed the "margarita" in the layered room photo.  I did have to adjust the tilt to make it look more realistic.  margaritas

Step Four
After all layers are in place, save as a copy.  Save the copy as a JPG file.  Leave the original in the PNG format.  When you save in JPG, you will be flattening your image and unable to return to "tweak" as necessary.  Crop photo, and use options in save to preferred width/height.

Please note:  I did this for fun, therefore did not spend any quality time creating my cut outs.  I also found the lighting structure (windows and morning sun) created a large problem even though I used the same camera setting on each photo.  With more time, this picture could be considerably better.

EXAMPLE 2:Michelle Triplets Using the same methods as above, I made this Triplet picture for a friend.