How to Get a Painting onto a Wall in a Room with Photoshop

Many art collectors like to see what a painting looks like in an intimate setting, such as a living room wall. Ideally, this image can be displayed along with the regular photo at an art website or portfolio.

This would hopefully give them a general idea of what the painting would look like in their own home.

 

 

 

The best way to do this is to photograph your own artwork displayed on a living room, rec-room wall, or gallery. But, that will probably not be possible if you have sold the original, and no access to it. If you still have the digital file, that image can be placed onto a wall inside of a room in another picture by using Photoshop. This will give the painting a setting, something that potential buyers can use as a reference.

What follows is a tutorial for placing a painting onto a living room wall inside a room space with Photoshop.

 

How to Place a Painting onto a Wall in a Picture of a Room with Photoshop

 

Take a photo of a large wall in your own livingroom, or find a free stock image at a stock photo site. For a list of some, please visit: Photo Reference Sites

Remember, if you make a mistake in a step, you don’t have to do everything over. Simply select Edit-Undo or Edit-Step Backward.

 

1. Creating a grid in Photoshop

   
   This is done to ensure the perspective is correct in the resulting picture.
   
   Setting dimensions of one square in the grid.
   
   
   Go to File-New. Set the width and height 100 pixels each, and background contents to transparent.
   
   
   
   Click Ctrl-A to select all the square, then Edit-Stroke.
    
   Set the stroke to 1 pixel, color: black, and location set to inside, click OK.
   
   Creating a pattern
   Go to Edit-Define pattern, give it a name, and click OK.
   
   Now, the grid is created.
   
   
   
   
   

2. Placing the grid onto the wall photograph in Photoshop

   
   Go back to the stock image photograph.
   
   Create a new layer (Layer-New-Layer or click the little icon at the bottom of the layers palette)
   
   Hold Shift-Backspace. In the Fill palette, choose Pattern, and under custom pattern, select the last one on the right, which is what you just created.
   
   Click Ctrl+T.
   
   Grab the corners of the grid and drag it to the wall where your painting is to be placed.
   
   In the case of the photo on the right, I plan on placing my painting on the wall, right above the sofa.
   
   Right-click, then choose Distort in the pop-up menu.
   
   Line up the grid with the perspective of the wall.
   
   Click the check-mark at the top, as shown in the screen shot.
   
   Now, you are ready to insert the actual painting onto the wall in the room.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

3. Transferring the painting to the wall

   
   Open that painting up in Photoshop (File-Open).
   
   Click Select-All to select all the painting.
   
   Click Edit-Copy.
   
   Go back to the room image with the wall. Click Edit-Paste.
   
   The image is probably covering the full picture, so the size has to be reduced. The way to do this is to turn the painting into a Smart Object, to ensure the resolution stays the same.
   
   Right-click on the layer that the painting is on (in the layers palette), and choose Convert to Smart Object.
   
   Grab that layer and move it below the transparent (grid) layer, as displayed at the right.
   
   Click Ctrl+T. Grab the corner of the selection and drag it, while pressing Shift at the same time, to keep the proportions. I found this difficult, as I only used a laptop touchpad. A mouse would have been easier.
   
   Right-click on the image (painting) and choose Distort. Move the corners until the edges of the painting are lined up with the grid.
   
   When everything looks ok, click the check-mark at the top (as in the last image in step 2).
   
   Hide the grid in the layers palette by clicking the eye icon.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

4. Creating a frame around the painting in the room

   
   Press Ctrl and click the layer in the layer palette, as displayed at the right. This will select the painting.
   
   Create a new layer for the frame. Click Layer-New-Layer.
   
   Click Edit-Stroke.
   
   Adjust the width depending on how wide you want the frame.
   
   Choose a color, and set the location to center.
   
   Click Ctrl+D to deselect.
   
   Choose Layer-Merge Visible.
   
   Delete all layers, besides the background.
   
   Complete!

 

I hope you enjoyed this Photoshop tutorial on how to insert a painting on a wall inside a room in another photograph.

I know its a long process, but once you have done it 3 or 4 times it will get faster. The result is worth the effort! If you have a good eye for perspective (don’t need grids), the first two steps can even be skipped.

These are some of our other Photoshop tutorials in the past:

How to Optimize Photographs of Art – Part 1
Fixing Photographs – Part 2
Signature Brushes – Part 1
Photoshop Signature Brush – Part 2

If you found this tutorial helpful or know someone who may find it useful, please share it!

If you have any questions, feel free to ask them below.