Photoshop :: Compositing Photos Using The Marquee Tool

how to create a montage? using the marquis tool first on the photos before I drag them onto my original backround, and now I can't find my directions. I'm doing something wrong, because even though I select the photo with the marquis tool, once I drag it to the backround layer, it appears as a rectangle (or square, if it was 2-1/4 format). What I can recall from the directions, and what I've been doing once I have a backround open is:

create new layer, make sure it's selected, open new photo, go to image size to adjust the size, keeping it the same resolution as the backround. Go to marquis tool, drag over photo creating an oval, switch to select tool, drag over to backround, and place. The first time I had done it following the directions (before I lost them), the oval (50% feather) photo was retained once I dragged to backround, but then all the other subsequent times it went in as the original format of the photo for each photo after that.

What I'm trying to accomplish is an 8 X 10 with a photo of my husband centered on a textured backround, then ovals of a smaller size surrounding the center photo, but feathered and blending into the backround.