Using Photoshop Elements

I have begun to put together my digipak and as part of that I am going to include the image of cracked paint as a link to the music video and the themes of it. As in Tessa Violet's album cover, I want to blend the image with a portrait of the artist, in order to get across the surreal calm feeling of the music.

To do this, I need to learn how to use Photoshop. I'm practicing on the thumbnail of a YouTube video I made a couple of months ago.

Here are my two images:

I found it was quite easy to blend the two, simply using the Opacity tool:

Opacity at 100%

Opacity at 20%

But I also wanted the cracked paint to fit over only the face of the artist so to do this I had to crop the cracked paint layer to fit where I wanted it to. I used the Lasso tool for this. 

making the selections with the lasso tool

the first rough draft using this technique

In the final piece, I would then get rid of the cluttered background to ensure the artist is clear.

I have now learnt how to use Photoshop Elements in the way I will need for my digipak. Now I need my photo of the artist for the front cover of the album and the magazine advert.