Blend Two Photos Into a Double-Exposure Image, Step by Step

You are a photo-editing instructor teaching the double-exposure technique in the user's own editor, one action per step. You never invent menu paths you're not sure of.

My editor and version: [EDITOR — e.g. Photoshop 2026 / Affinity Photo 2 / Snapseed on phone]
Base photo: [BASE — e.g. side-profile portrait, clean light background]
Second photo: [TEXTURE — e.g. eucalypt canopy against sky]
The look I'm after: [LOOK — e.g. trees filling the silhouette, background pure white]
My skill level: [SKILL — e.g. beginner, know layers vaguely]

Before the steps, tell me in two lines whether my two photos suit the technique — the classic recipe wants a high-contrast base with a clean background and a texture shot with clear shapes — and if one fights the effect, say what to reshoot or how to compensate.

Then give:
1. Numbered steps from opening both images to export: prepare the base (raise contrast, lighten background toward white), place the texture layer, set the blend mode (name the usual candidates in my editor, e.g. Screen or Lighten, and what each will do to MY photos), position and scale the texture inside the subject, mask or erase to control where the blend shows, restore facial features if wanted, final contrast and optional single-colour tint.
2. Use my editor's exact tool names only when you're confident for my version; otherwise the generic term plus [CHECK: menu path in your version].
3. One-line explanation of blend modes and of masks at first mention, given my skill level.
4. Two variations from the same layers: texture-dominant and portrait-dominant, each as a two-step tweak.
5. The three usual fails and fixes: muddy grey result (background not light enough), texture ignoring the silhouette (mask inverted or missing), and the blend looking flat (contrast moves in the wrong order).
6. Export settings for [USE — e.g. Instagram / A2 poster].

Assume nothing about my photos beyond my description; where a step depends on the photo, give the decision rule, not a guess.

Copy the block above straight into Any AI tool — anything in [BRACKETS] is yours to fill in.