Classic Photoshop Effects 15 - Ripping Paper

This is part fifteen of a series that chronicles my journey through Scott Kelby’s book, Classic Photoshop Effects.

For this effect, I had to make it look like I was tearing paper.  I decided to make a page of music notation rip away to a cello to advertise my school of music.  Here are the original images used:

After applying a few effects, here is the final result:

The project began by turning the white page into something more interesting.  I added a color layer effect to the white paper, turning it into a brownish color, but keeping the notes black.  I then created a fuzzy selection around the edge to darken it.  To rip away the paper, I had to create jagged lines with the lasso tool, one swipe turned things white, the other swipe tore away the image entirely.  After adding an outer glow of black for the shadow, I placed the picture of the cello underneath it all.