« Casting Shadows Video Tutorial - Using Photoshop | Home | Free Icons Galore »
A Photoshop Newbie’s Guide to Masking
By Photoshop Consultant | August 29, 2007
When you’re new to Adobe Photoshop software, learning the ropes can be daunting. It seems like there are so many new things to learn that you almost do not know where to begin. Masking is a good skill to learn as soon as you start learning how to operate Photoshop. It allows you to do something very important when you are new to the program, and that is make edits to your images without permanently changing them.
That way, if you make some changes that you don’t like, you can easily remove them. There are many masks within the Photoshop program, like fluid masks, quick masks, selection masks, and sharpening and unsharpening masks. The most common mask with the widest variety of uses, however, is the layering mask. It is relatively easy for new users to manage by following just a few steps.
A layering mask is exactly what the name sounds like - it is a mask that is only applied to one layer of an image. To put a mask on a layer, first, open your layer palette. Highlight the layer that includes the material that you want to put a mask over, and drag that layer onto the layer palette. Now, you will need to click on your ‘add vector mask’ button, which is at the bottom of the layer palette dialoge box. If you have correctly applied the mask to the right layer, a white icon will be next to that layer’s name in the list of layers in the palette.
If you want to take away part of the mask so part of the layer is visible, open up your ‘paint brush tool.’ With your paintbrush, ‘brush away’ the parts of the mask you don’t want, to revel the image underneath. If you want to do away with your mask entirely, use your mouse to click the white icon next to your layer, and simultaneously hold down the ’shift’ key on your keyboard. A red ‘X’ will cross out your white mask icon, showing you that you have correctly disabled the mask.
If you need to select the image under the mask, without moving the mask, you can do this in the same way you would when you make any selection. With the appropriate layer open, hit your ‘control’ key, if you are using a PC, or your ‘command’ key, if you’re using a Mac. All the images on that layer that are masked will be selected.
Sometimes, you may want to be able to move the image and the mask independently of each other, or make edits to one without editing the other. To do this, you need disconnect them from each other. Simply click on ‘link’ in the palette menu, and they will be disconnected. To reconnect them, click ‘link’ again. To view the mask alone, click on ‘alt’ on a PC or ‘options’ on a Mac, and the mask will appear alone, so you can judge better the edits you are making to it.
These steps are the basic tools you will need to work with layer masks in Photoshop. Exactly how you use the masks, and how often, will depend on what kind of work you are using the program to do. The main benefit to these masks is in the fact that they allow you to make edits to your image without permanently applying them. Many Photoshop applications include so-called ‘destructive edits’, which means once you apply an edit, the image is forever altered. For a Photoshop newbie, layer masks are a great way to make edits while you’re still learning the program without damaging your source material.http://www.msiphotoshop.com
Copy your 5 bonus jpg buttons.
Enjoy
Topics: Photoshop General |
Comments are closed.