Photoshop, GIMP, etc. There is a learning curve if you want to perform any simple task with powerful photo editing tools like Take the example of superimposing one picture over another. Simple tools like MS Paint help in such cases. MS Paint is a free photo editing software that comes preinstalled on Windows computers. It received an upgrade in the form of Paint 3D, a free, pre-installed application on Windows PC.
Overlaying an image is fairly easy in Paint or Paint 3D. You can use the concept of copying a transparent image onto another image to add watermarks and logos to your photos. It can also help you combine two images.
Let’s see how to superimpose a picture, especially a transparent image, in Paint and Paint 3D.
How Do I Put One Picture on Top of Another in Paint?
Users are disappointed when they don’t see a dedicated Add button in Paint to add an image over an existing one. However, the same feature can be used with the ‘Paste from’ button. You can use it to add images to Paint.
Here are the steps to add a transparent image in Paint:
Stage 1: Launch MS Paint on your computer.
Step 2: Open the first image you want to overlay another image on from File > Open.
Stage 3: Click the small down arrow located under Paste. Select the ‘Paste from’ option.
Step 4: The ‘From History’ window will open. Navigate to the image file you want to overlay the first image. Click Open to add.
Step 5: In most cases, if you add a PNG file with a transparent background, you will notice that it will appear with a white background. Do not worry.
With the image selected, click the down arrow under Select. Choose the transparent option.
Request! The white background will disappear instantly.
How Transparent Selection Works
If you are wondering how the transparent selection removes the background, here is a short explanation for you.
When you enable the transparent selection, the color selected in Color 2 in Paint will be removed. Since PNG images have a transparent background, they will be added to a white background in Paint. Since color 2 is mostly white, it is removed when you click on it. If it is a different color, the Transparent selection will not work. Click the Color 2 box, and then click the white color.
Now if your image has a different background color, select it from Color 2. To do this, click the Color picker icon from the toolbar. Typically, you click the color in the image to select it as Color 1. Right click on the color since we need the color in the Color 2 box.
Then use the Transparent selection option. This way, you can remove any part of your image. The only thing to note is that the image must have a solid background.
Step 6: You can resize, reposition, and rotate the transparent image. Use the corners of the selection box to resize the image. Right-click the image and select Rotate.
Hover your mouse cursor over the image to change its position. It will turn into a four-sided arrow. Drag it to the required location.
Similarly, you can add multiple images on top of the same image in Paint.
Step 7: To save the picture, go to File > Save as.
How to Put One Picture on Top of Another in Paint 3D
Layering images in Paint 3D is simple compared to traditional Paint. Fortunately, Paint 3D preserves the original transparency of PNG images. Therefore, you will not see any white background attached to your image.
Let’s see how to add an image over another image in Paint 3D.
Stage 1: Launch the Paint 3D application on your computer.
Step 2: Open the background image to which you want to add another image using Menu > Open.
Stage 3: To add a picture, go to Menu > Insert.
Step 4: Open the picture you want to add to the background.
Resize, rotate or change the position of the second image according to your preference. Similarly, add more images.
If the image you want to add has a background color, you can make the background transparent in Paint 3D. You can also change the background color.
Step 5: Click Menu > Save as to save your final image.
Show Your Creativity
Combining multiple images can produce stunning results. You can create wallpapers, images for social media, blog featured images, using a tiled image by overlaying images. The final result depends on your creativity. So use it to the fullest.
Next: Paint 3D can also be used to crop images in irregular shapes. Learn how to crop a circle shaped picture using Paint 3D from the next link.
