Use simple shapes to make a black and white image with sharp edges and interesting geometry. As you lay down black shapes and feel yourself reaching for the eraser, remember that you can achieve the same effect overlaying white ontop of black. This way, you can move shapes non-destructively instead of just erasing pixels. Don’t be afraid to layer, as long as you only use black & white they’ll merge together visually. I recommend Illustrator but Photoshop, GIMP, or even Paint will work.

Mask for ‘Natives’ done in Illustrator

2. Find your photos. I recommend Unsplash, Pixabay, or Wikimedia Commons for great photos with lenient copyright.

3. Set up in Photoshop. Bring your Photos into Photoshop on separate layers — notice how they overlay each other. Think foreground and background. Bring your black & white shapes in as a third layer.

4. Mask it out. With your layer of shapes selected, select the black areas. (select>color range>left click on a black sample). You can now hide this layer by toggling the eye symbol. Use this selection as a mask on the photograph in the top-most layer — revealing the photograph beneath it in the previously white spaces.

5. Mask options. You have two options with this mask. Select the mask and invert (ctrl + I) to flip what is obscured or revealed. You can also paint black and white directly on the mask with the brush tool to alter the mask, just make sure you have the mask on the layer selected, not the layer itself.

6. Tweaks. Add adjustment layers to color correct. Curves, levels, and brightness & contrast are my go-tos. Alt-click between an adjustment layer and the photo below it to limit it to only that layer. Otherwise, adjustment layers affect every layer beneath it. Layer accordingly — if you only want to brighten the background image, put the curves layer above it but below the foreground image. You can also add dust, scratches, text, a vignette, blur, or other shapes at this point.

Thanks! A like on Facebook or a follow on Tumblr would mean a lot, and feel free to reach out with questions.

— ZGA