Overlay2 creates a floating image window which you can work through, like tracing paper for your Mac.

I run a photo studio in London, and I was looking for software that would enable me to make a semi-transparent floating window on my computer. I wanted to be able to open any image to use as a floating positioning guide over the actual image that I’m shooting.

I use Adobe Lightroom for image capture, and I wanted to be able to float the art-director’s layout over my photo in Lightroom, to check that my shot was a good fit. Sometimes I wanted to put another element of a composite over my image to check position and perspective, or I wanted to have an image visible over my Lightroom capture so I could match it.

I couldn’t find any software to do this, so I wrote it myself: Overlay2 for Mac and Windows is the result.

Overlay2 allows the image in the Overlay window to be saved or printed.

Overlay works with any other Windows software.

Use it over video capture or editing software, or 3D modelling software for a reference, positioning guide, preview or test. The image in the Overlay window can be resized, repositioned, rotated and the opacity can be controlled.