This is a composite image made up of three separate photos. The buffalo image was taken in Phang Nga, Thailand. The grassland image was taken just outside Hua Hin, also in Thailand. And the karst landscape background photo was taken in southern China.
I used layer masks and blending modes to combine the background images, then painted in the haze and sunlight on new layers.
To keep the video below concise, I had already separated the buffalo from the background using the Pen tool to make a selection. I refined the selection with the Select and Mask tool and created a layer mask to remove the background. I like to use layer masks, rather than deleting the background, so I can further refine the selection later, if needed.
The brush I used to mask out the buffalos feel was downloaded, for free, from Adobe's website as part of a 'megapack'. To get it just click ‘Get More Brushes…' in the drop down menu of brushes panel and you'll be directed to the official Adobe site.
Final Image
I hope you enjoy this video, if so please checkout my YouTube channel for more how-to videos.
