The original image-

I firstly created an adjustment layer of Colour Balance and adjusted the image to suit the warmer theme of my other images. The colour change is seen in the image below

I have applied a Mask and with a Magic Wand tool cut out the temple and hide the blue background. With a Brush tool on low opacity created the impression of clouds. This will allow me to blend the image to my other background.

In a new layer, using the brush tool and eye-drop tool I chose the colours of my background and created smudges. Applying a photo-filter I applied a Gaussian blur on low opacity to make the temple seem smudged creating the effect that the temple is in the far distance. 

BLENDING TWO IMAGES 

By using the Brush and Eye Drop tool you can sample colours and draw layers to create a rough gradient. Then you can apply a Filter -> Blur -> Gaussian blur, which blends your rough layers and makes a continues gradient. 

These colours will now be visible through the entire image and will indirectly blend two images together.

By using the option shown on the right you can change the saturation, intensity and hue of the previously painted colours and can help change the mood and  warmth of the image to suits your needs.

             

ADJUSTMENT LAYERS/ MASKING EXERCISE

Using masking to blend two images together with a brush tool or a gradient tool.

I used 1 layer to mask the image and reveal the background with a soft feathered brush to gradually build gradient between to images.

The upper lip was cut out using the Polygonal Lasso Tool and added to the adjustment layer where I changed the lightness to create a black colour.  After I used the brush tool to reveal the red and give the upper lip a tint.

To the lower lip, I used the lasso tool to cut out and change the hue of a little oval part to add gloss to the lip.

I also cut out the eyes and used the brush tool to reveal the background image in the eyes holes.





To experiment with compositing images I tried to merge my own image with some owl wings. Unfortunately, my attempt turned out pretty unrealistic and rough however it gave me the chance to morph images and experiment with scaling to achieve a composite. In this I used the Free Transform Tool and played with the images and masking the images to create a gradient between two images and make them blend. -->



<-- I added the owl eyes and the other wing.
The shade of the jumper was changed by selecting the magic wand tool and highlighting jumper only. I added a adjustment layer and changes the Hue and saturation.











I darkened the entire image using a Curves adjustment layer. By moving the little square around the grid you can change the exposure, shadows and saturation of a image. I made the image more dark to suit it to the background.