Step 1: Have someone take a photo of you from the side. No selfies, they don't work very well. Make sure there's not a lot going on in the background. I just stood on our treadmill and used the the grayish wall as my background. It worked well unless I was wearing a shirt about the same color and then it make it a little more tricky so you'll also want to think about that. The shirt I'm wearing below is similar in color so I'l have to be very careful when cropping around it.
Step 2: Open your photo in Photoshop.
Step 3: On the left side you will see a paintbrush with a little lasso around it. This is your magic want. Click on it, hold it, and choose the "Quick Selection Tool."
Step 4: Use the Quick Selection Tool to select everything around your body, you only want to select the background. To do this make sure that at the top the + sign is selected. You'll want to have the size set between 5-10 as well.
Step 5: Start selecting the background around your body. If you accidentally go over your body use the - sign {right next to the + sign} and move it back off of your body. You may have to go back and forth between the + and - sign a bit to make it fit around your body just right. Zoom in too to make sure it's tight around your body.
Step 6: Go to Select, click on "Inverse," and then click on "Refine Edge."
Step 7: When you click "Refine Edge" it make your photo look like this:
*Note: If your background isn't black you can change it. I like to have it on black because the chalkboard is dark as well and that way I can see what it's going to look like against a dark background and if I need to make any changes. If you can see that you need to make some changes just click "Cancel" and fix the edges.
Step 8: Now you want to change the "Radius," the "Smooth," the "Contrast," and "Shift Edge." Play around with it until it looks right to you but I usually only go 1-2 on Radius, 15-30 on Smooth, 15-30 on Contrast, and -15 to -30 on Shift Edge.
Step 9: Once you have the picture the way you want it you need to select the correct output. Down at the bottom you'll see the words "Output To:" and here you want to select "New Layer with New Layer Mask."
Step 10: It should now look like this:
Step 11: Now, you can move your photo where you want it on the canvas. I like to move mine down a little and to the left. That way I have room to write at the top and on the right.
Step 12: Now it's time to bring in the chalkboard background. First you need to find a chalkboard background you like. I just googled "Free Chalkboard Backgrounds" and sorted through them until I found the one I liked. Once you have the image you want {make sure it's a large enough image too or it will look grainy, I would suggest at least 1080 x 600 pixels} save it to your computer. Then open it in Photoshop.
Step 13: Now you're are going to want to make sure to unlock your chalkboard photo so you can move it. You click on the lock and drag it to the bottom right where a garbage can waits. Put the lock in the garbage can.
Step 14: Now select the arrow on the right side and then use it to click on the image of the chalkboard. Don't let go, continue to hold it, drag it up to the image you want to take it to {the one with your body}, keep holding it until the photo with your body appears, drag it all the way to the top of that photo, and now you can let go.
Step 15: The chalkboard image will be small. You need to use the arrow again to resize it. Click on the points at each corner and drag them out until it's the size you want. I make it cover the whole photo otherwise it will look weird. It's OK that the picture of you is going to get covered. We'll take care of that in a minute. Once the chalkboard is the right size, click on the arrow again, and hit "apply."
Step 16: Now, that you have the chalkboard covering the whole image, go to the top, select "Layer," Then select "Arrange," and then "Send to Back." This will put the chalkboard behind the image of you.
Step 17: Now you can add Text. For my special boxes or images I use the font "KG Flavor and Frames." This is for personal use only, not commercial use. I then put the week number at the top, and on the right I write how big the baby is that week. I also add how it compares to a fruit or vegetable. Then I put an image of that vegetable at the bottom. I'll explain how to add another picture to the bottom in just a minute.
Step 18: Adding another image {such as fruit or vegetables}. First, you need to find the image you want. I usually like to find one with a white background because that's easiest. Then you need to follow the same steps we used for our own photo to take the background out. Steps 2-10. Once the background is gone from the image you can then take it from that image {exactly like we did with the chalkboard} and drag it over to the other photo you want it on. Don't forget that you can't let go, you have to hold it, drag it to the photo you want, and then put it on top of that photo {Step 14}. Once it's on your photo you can resize it and drag it to where you want it.
And now you have your finished picture!
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