Blending with Layers in Photoshop

This week's homework assignment in my Photoshop class had us working with the various Blending Options available with layers (the focus of the lab assignment was to learning how to hand color a provided black and white image). I combined three photos I'd taken with my Canon 30D: a photo of Sprite (my cat), a photo of a Canadian Goose at Vasona Park, and a photo of reeds at Shoreline.

My cat Sprite is an indoor cat. I'd seen on various televised nature shows images of tigers stalking their prey through the grass. Because Sprite doesn't get the opportunity to hunt (no wildlife in my home), I thought I'd give her the opportunity to stalk a bird. The image above is what I came up with. The lines on the image are intentional - I wanted to balance the firey colors of Sprite peering over the reeds and the Goose hiding in the reeds.

The image I submitted for homework was a sepia version of Sprite in The Grass with select colorization - yellowing of Sprite's eyes, green highlighting of the reeds, and blackening of the goose.

Just in case you're curious the three photos below are the ones used to generate the Sprite in The Grass images.