Photoshop Tutorials: Fill A Photo With Photos

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Step 8: Create A New Layer In The Main Photo

We're done with the smaller photos at this point, so switch back to your main photo and click on the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette to add a new blank layer to the document, which we're going to use to fill the photo with the pattern we just created:

Photoshop Tutorials: Click the "New Layer" icon at the bottom of the Layers palette.

Photoshop will go ahead and add a new blank layer above the Background layer:

The new blank layer added.

Photoshop Tutorials: The Layers palette showing the new blank layer above the Background layer.

Step 9: Fill The New Layer With The Pattern You Created

We're going to fill the layer with our pattern. To do that, go up to the Edit menu and choose Fill, or use the keyboard shortcut Shift+F5. This brings up the Fill dialog box. Set the Use option to Pattern by clicking the down-pointing arrow and selecting "Pattern" from the list. Then, to select your pattern, click on either the small pattern preview thumbnail or the down-pointing arrow beside it and then click on your pattern inside the selection box that appears. Your pattern will be the last one on the bottom row.

Photoshop's 'Fill' dialog box.

Photoshop Tutorials: Select your pattern from the Fill dialog box.

For the options at the bottom of the Fill dialog box, make sure Blending Mode is set to Normal and Opacity is set to 100%. Then click OK to exit out of the dialog box, and Photoshop will fill the layer, and your image, with the pattern:

The image after filling the layer with the pattern.

Photoshop Tutorials: The image is now completely filled with the pattern.

Step 10: Change The Blend Mode Of The Layer To "Overlay"

To blend our pattern in with the image behind it, go up to the blend mode options in the top left corner of the Layers palette, click on the down-pointing arrow to the right of the word "Normal", and change the blend mode to Overlay:

Changing the blend mode of the pattern layer to 'Overlay'.

Photoshop Tutorials: Change the blend mode of the pattern-filled layer from "Normal" to "Overlay" to blend the pattern with the image.

After changing the blend mode to Overlay, the pattern becomes blended in with the image below it, creating our "optical illusion" effect:

The final result.

Photoshop Tutorials: The final "optical illusion" effect.

If you find your pattern looks a little too intense, try changing the blend mode of the layer to Soft Light rather than "Overlay" for a more subtle effect. You can also try lowering the Opacity of the layer in the top right corner of the Layers palette.

And there we have it!

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