With the eggs isolated, I was now ready to blend them together, using the best qualities of each.  I started with the image that I called front rim.  This will be the base of the image.

To this image, I will overlay the remaining images using different blending modes and layer masks to control which areas are visible. To the rim image, I overlay the translucent image and set the blending mode to Overlay, reducing the opacity to 45%.  The overlayed image provides attractive contrast but there it also causes the left side of the egg to become blown out.

 

To remove the part of the image which is too light, I added a layer-mask and painted over the bright area with a neutral grey.

I knew that I wanted to incorporate the translucentness of the backlit egg and it just wasn’t showing up yet.  I made a copy of the translucent egg and masked off most of the egg, leaving only yolk near the back left of the egg.  It took some experimentation but I finally settled with the blending mode set to linear light and opacity of 45%.

Looking at the egg, the shell looked complete but the yolk looked like a dark crater.  To lighten it up, I added a new layer and filled it with the egg which I had intended to use for texture.  

This made the yolk look bright and vibrant but it also blew out the shell.  To correct for this, I created a layer mask and painted out the shell so that only the egg was affected by this layer.

Notice that I used a grey brush on the back rim of the egg to keep some of the brightness from this layer. Now, the egg looks bright and the yolk glows. There is however, a slight yellow color cast that needs to be corrected.

Next - Part 5