08 Transforming the top layer
I think the picture looks a bit static with the statue completely vertical, and I want to crop off the the plinth at the base of the statue, so I’ve selected this top layer, I’ve hit ctrl-command-T to activate the transform tools again and then rotated, resized and moved that top layer into a new and more dynamic position.
09 Final levels adjustment
Lastly, I want to contrast in the statue to match the depth of the background, so I’ve applied a levels adjustment directly to this layer (clipping an adjustment layer to this layer only would be more ‘proper’, but it would make things more complicated). I’ve dragged the black point and grey point sliders to the right to darken it up.
10 The finished picture
The backgrounds and other graphics you get in Elements can be a bit cheesy and simplistic, but it’s still worth picking through them for the more useful options. They’re simple to add, and with a little imagination you can transform them into something quite different to the original.
