• Brush size: 1000 px
• Hardness: 15%
• Opacity: 100%
• Flow: 100%

Note: To reduce the Hardness, right click on the image while the Eraser tool (E) is activated, then you’d see the Hardness scale, which is at default – 100%, just move the slider to the left to get 0%.

We would also need to change the color of the Brush to white. There are many ways to change the brush’s color, but for now, we will be learning how to change it instantly from black to white and vice versa. From the tools menu, you’d notice a black box and a white box.

Now to interchange these colors, simply left-click on the canvas and then press X and you’d notice that the two colors are changing positions. i.e. Black becomes the background color and the White color becomes the Foreground color. Now, let’s set the Foreground color to White. Activate the Brush tool (B) and paint white over the region shown on the image below:

Now that the sky is done, let’s add the table texture. Open the stock image: Tileable Wood Texture and activate the Move tool (V) and then drag this image to our canvas.

We would need to resize that, so activate the Transform tool (Ctrl/Cmd + T) and increase the size of the image as seen below:

When you’re done, let’s group these layers by clicking on all the layers that we have clicked and pressing Ctrl/Cmd + G. After doing that, you’d notice that all the layers are now inside the group. Let’s rename this group to Background. To rename a group, simply click on the words “group 1” (etc) and a text box would appear and you may now rename it.

Step 3 - Create the book

In this step we would be adding the book on our canvas, so to start, let’s open Book 2. Now, on this image, it would be quite difficult in selecting a part of the image, since we can’t use the Rectangular Marquee tool (M) on accurately selecting the book. So what we’re going to use is the Polygonal Lasso Tool (L). To activate the Polygonal Lasso Tool (L), follow the instructions on the image below:

To use the Polygonal Lasso tool (L) you simply have to left-click on a point on the book’s surface and then drag your mouse carefully around the book until you reach the point where you began. When you’re done, a selection area would appear on the places you dragged your mouse onto.