Frankenstein fruit

Make fantasy fruit mash-ups using Photoshop’s layers, Dan Mold shows you how to do it the easy way in this fun Elements step-by-step

- Dan Mold

Photoshop gives users the ability to create images otherwise impossible in real life. So this month we’re taking full advantage of this powerful editing software by creating our very own Frankenstein fruit creations. We’ll do this by merging different pieces of fruit together, which can be done in Photoshop and Elements, but we’re using the latter in this case.

You’ll find the fruit start images in the Resources folder on your disc or download (via link bottom left) to use them to nail down the technique. However, there’s great fun to be had taking pictures of the specific fruits or vegetables you’d like to merge together for your own custom creations.

If you go down this route be sure to set up your fruit on a table near a bright window for a good source of light. Then you’ll want to lock your camera off on a tripod, so that the lighting and the composition won’t change when you swap the fruit over, a tripod will also help reduce camera shake. Go into your Canon camera’s Aperture Priority (Av) mode and dial in an aperture of f/11 for a strong depth of field, so both pieces of fruit are equally sharp – making it easier to create a realistic composite afterwards.