bztips

buzzkill, thanks, that worked. Now my next question: Is there an easy way to soften the edges of my portrait so that it blends in to the background better (without blurring the main portion of the portrait itself)?

I'm brand new at this, so go easy. I have a portrait pic of a friend (File #1) and I want to change the background using File #2. I managed to select just the person in #1 and erased everything around him (got the checkerboard). Now how do I use layers to accomplish this? Yes, I've read all the help tutorials and files, but there is some very elementary level of understanding about associating files with layers that you must have, which I don't. Here's what I thought I needed to do: Open File#1 Open a new layer Open File #2 in the new Layer Select "Merge Layer Down". I figured this would fill in the checkerboard area of File#1 with the corresponding area of File#2. Here's what I tried: Open File #1 (it's now in the Background layer); add a new layer, this now shows as Layer 2 in the Layers dialog; open File #2. This doesn't seem to be right, File #2 is now labeled as Background, and Layer 2 disappears from the dialog. Any help appreciated.