Process: Joan of Arc

 To create the final piece I used one original image which I took and a stock image.  I wanted to combine these using Photoshop and add a piece of text.

So I began with these two images

I began by making a canvas on Photoshop so just File - new - and then choosing the size, background, and resolution (300ppi) so that it was printable and high quality.

I then opened my cross image and checked for quality 

This is a good clear image with a good depth of field however I did use the curves to brighten this as I felt it could be a little brighter

I then opened changed the size and resolution using Edit - Image- Image Size.  I then added to the canvas that I wanted to use to frame the image so \I made the image smaller than the canvas. 

I then opened the fire image - this image will go over the original image

I changed the image size and resolution again to 300ppi.

I then lowered the opacity of the fire images so that it was transparent enough and give the idea of fire over the cross.  I checked the quality again and then added Text just using the text tools and the Edwardian Script font for the final text.  

This is the final result 

I also tried some different versions of this using a different canvas frame and black and white

It is important to have different design choices so depending on how I wanted to use these I could choose the best version here.