Case study 10 · Photoshop compositing

Nuo Mi Cat Portrait

A characterful portrait that places my cat into a photographed outdoor scene with depth, framing, and textured Chinese type.

ContextAD157 course project
TimelineFall 2025
RolePortrait composition & editing
ToolsPhotoshop
Framed portrait of a gray cat with branches, autumn park scenery, and textured Chinese lettering
Final Photoshop portrait

Brief

For a portrait-compositing assignment, I chose my cat, Nuo Mi, as the subject. I used a photograph I took in a park for the setting, removed the cat’s original background, and positioned her inside the new scene.

Building depth

Branches placed in front of the subject establish foreground depth while the park photograph provides a softer background. A vintage-style frame makes the composition read as a keepsake portrait rather than a simple cutout. The Chinese lettering names the cat and adds a tactile, playful contrast to the formal frame.

Technique & credit

I followed an online Photoshop tutorial for the fluffy-text effect used in the cat’s name. The overall portrait composition, image selection, masking, and layering are my course work; the lettering effect was learned from that tutorial, not independently invented.

View the text-effect tutorial ↗