Rhino Composite - The Photoshop: Professional Retouching and Compositing Tips, Tricks, and Techniques - page 399

Figure 8.30
6. To help the rhino blend into the scene, we need to soften it. Option/Alt-click the
layer mask attached to the rhino layer to reveal it ( Figure 8.31 ) . Then go to Filter
> Blur > Gaussian Blur, add 1px of blur, and click OK. You'll now see that the
white part of the mask has been blurred slightly, which as a result has softened the
outline. Option/Alt-click the layer mask to return to normal view.
Figure 8.31
Now that the rhino is in the landscape, we need to blend his hooves into the
ground.
7. Click the bottom layer in the layer stack, which contains the original field. With
the Lasso tool, draw a rough selection around the rhino's hooves ( Figure 8.32 ).
Then go to Layer > New > Layer via Copy. This creates a layer containing a copy
of everything included within the selection. Double-click the name of the layer,
and rename it blend hooves ( Figure 8.33 ).