Please help!! photo in wineglass in Photoshop elements 9

Question

I am new to photoshop (or any other editing for that matter). I would love to make a picture effect of a photo in a wine glass and am about to pull my hair out trying to figure this out. I have found some instructions on the internet but am having a hard time following them. I have Photoshop elements 9. I have a picture of a beach scene that I took in Cancun. I uploaded a picture of a wine glass and cut out the wineglass using the quick selection tool and selection tool brush. That part looks pretty good. I can't figure out how to get the picture in the glass. I used the elliptical selection tool and made an oval around the picture. I tried to erase the background of the oval but couldn't figure that out. So I tried to drag the oval to the wineglass and the entire picture moved and covered the glass and the entire beach scene. I tried to do decrease opacity and erase background but that has turned into a sloppy mess. I really want to do this for a friend as a wedding gift but can't seem to figure out how and I am running out of time. Can someone please help me figure out how to do this. Maybe I am doing things in the wrong order. I don't know...but I am sure someone out there can help me. And I sure would appreciate any help I can get.

Answer 1

I would have got back to you earlier but one of my kids wanted on the computer. There's no school tomorrow as it's been canceled because of the blizzard here in the Midwest so I let them stay up late tonight.
You need to soften the edges of the selection. The secret to moving items onto a new background is to add a touch of feather to the selection. The quick select is an awesome tool to get a good selection but it makes hard edges so you often need to take it a step farther and add some feather. You can do that a couple of ways either with the new refine edge dialog or the select<modify<feather command. Since you have PSE 9, I would recommend using the refine edge command. I believe, in Elements that will be in the Select menu. If it isn't listed under that heading, check under the other menu headings in the menu bar.
Above using your items from your post with a slightly feathered edge selection.
Above using your items saved from your post...slightly firmer edge selection and a slight blur added to top portion of background to give it a little depth of field. I used the levels command to firm it up. I'll get into that under the firmer mask image below.
I always use masks so I can show you my actual selection using a screen grab. I started by selecting your wine glass with the quick select tool. I used the brush tool to soften the glass selection on the sides. I intentionally varied the softness for this glass because it seemed to sell the effect more.
I changed my mind and decided on firmer edges for the side of the glass. I firmed them by using the levels command on the mask. Shortcut is Ctrl + L. I used the middle gray slider in the levels command to firm up the glass selections edge.
(I posted both so you could see how the difference in a selection mask can change the blended outcome. IMO, the second mask makes the glass more realistic as the first has the glass edges just a tad too soft. You'll also notice the second image includes a copy of the background layer. I blurred the background then masked bottom portion of the blurred background to create a depth of field effect. You can pull a black to transparent gradient using the gradient tool on a mask to fade the sharp and blurred background version together.
My Couple mask is a bit sloppy but you get the idea.
Couple layer visible. I went off of everything put together not necessarily what the individual layer looked. On a larger high resolution image, I would have probably made them more opaque and also cleaned up their mask better. It's tricky working with small images.
Glass mask...screen blend mode 25% opacity. I won't post a screen grab of that layer as there isn't much to show.
Above is alternate version with couple opaque and the couple mask cleaner. I'm not sure which version I prefer...
Edit: I think I prefer this alternate couple more opaque version.
Above is alternate version with couple on their own layer.
Above is alternate version couple mask.