How to Blend Photos in Canva (Create Amazing Effects!)

Are you looking to create some magical, artistic designs that wow your audience?

Well, blending photos is a fantastic way to do just that in Canva.

By overlapping images and making them fade into each other, you can come up with all sorts of cool effects.

Things like subtle double exposures, dreamy landscapes, dramatic portraits – the possibilities are endless!

In this beginner’s guide, I’ll walk you through everything you need to know about how to blend photos in Canva.

Stick with me, and you’ll be making pro-level blended creations in no time!

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How to Blend Photos in Canva (Step By Step)

Before we jump into the fun stuff, we need to prep the photos. Blending works best when you have cutouts with transparent backgrounds.

So we need to remove those backgrounds first!

Here’s what to do:

1. Removing Annoying Backgrounds

Most photos you find online will have backgrounds you don’t want.

Here’s how you can delete them:

For example, look at this cute doggo photo I found online:

The gray background is blah and boring. I want to isolate the doggo and blend it into something more colorful!

So let’s click on the doggo picture. This selects and highlights the image.

Head to the toolbar at the top and click the “Edit Photo” button. This opens editing options.

Under the “Photo Effects” tab, you’ll find the “Background Remover” tool. Click it!

Now Canva will work its magic for a few seconds and voila!

After removing the background, we get this:

Much better! The transparent effect will allow me to seamlessly blend this good boy into a new background.

Make sure to remove backgrounds from all photos you want to blend for the best results. The clean cutouts are crucial for that professional blended look.

2. Picking an Awesome Background Image

After preparing your foreground images, you need a background to blend them into.

Here are some great places to find background photos:

• Canva’s Photos tab: Tons of free, high-quality images here. Nature and landscapes work great.
• Your own uploads: Import photos from your device using the Uploads tab if you have something specific in mind.
• Textured backgrounds: Check out Canva’s Backgrounds tab for really cool textures to blend into like marble, watercolor, etc.

I decided to go with this vibrant orange backdrop from Canva’s stock image:

I think the color will make my doggo pop nicely!

3. Adding The Foreground Images On New Background

Ok, it’s time to add our foreground image to the new background.

So let’s bring in our doggo image to this new orange background.

You can:

• Drag and drop the foreground images you want across the canvas.
• Mirror, rotate, resize until you find positions and angles you like.
• Group similar layers to make arranging easier. Select layers, right click and then click “Group”.

Play around with the arrangement until you find something that really stands out. Overlapping images symmetrically can make cool geometric patterns when blended.

For my doggo picture, I rotated him diagonally and enlarged him to fill most of the canvas:

I think this dynamic angle gives it a cool look!

4. Adjusting Transparency for the Blend

Here comes the magic! Adjusting transparency blends the foreground into the background:

Select a foreground image, then click the “Transparency” icon (looks like a fading checkerboard).

Drag the slider left to lower transparency and watch the blend happen!

You can also manually enter the percentage if you know exactly how transparent you want it.

Start high and lower transparency gradually for a smooth blend. Going below 50% is usually ideal.

For my doggo, 45% transparency made him fade nicely into the orange backdrop:

See how he merges into the color now? So cool!

5. Adding Gradient Fade (Optional)

Adding gradients along the edges helps the background fade and integrates the effect more naturally:

Click on the Elements section in the left sidebar and search for “Gradeint”

Now drag and drop a gradient element in your cavnas.

Adjust the sizing of the gradient element and place it in the background in such a way that it should give a faded look.

Now, customize the gradient colors to match the background.

Here I added a yellow gradient along the background edge to give it a dramatic look.

See how the gradient makes the edges fade away? Such a great finishing touch!

6. Adding Text & Decorations

Use the Text tool on the left sidebar or press T to add text boxes.

Pop in titles, quotes, captions, etc to complement your creation.

Choose font styles and sizes that stand out nicely against the blended background.

You can also add some decorative elements from the Canva Elements library to make your overall design pop.

Here’s my completed doggo blend:

I’m super happy with how it turned out!

The colors, the text, and the transparency all came together nicely.

FAQs about Blending in Canva

Got questions? Here are some common ones:

Let Your Creativity Run Wild!

And there you have it – everything you need to know to start blending images seamlessly in Canva!

With this easy tutorial, you can take your canva design skills to the next level.

The key steps are prepping transparent images, choosing a solid background, lowering transparency, and adding final touches.

Don’t be afraid to experiment and find your own style.

Blended designs are guaranteed to make your social media posts, ads, flyers, and other projects pop. So go forth and start blending today!

Let me know if you have any other questions. I’m always happy to help you out.

Have fun with it and make some magical creations!