If the Egyptians used masks, I can too! Right?
Mask
Rather than re-inventing the wheel, I’m going to post a link to an excellent article/tutorial on Photoshop Masks. You can read about Egyptian Masks on your own. Understanding selections and masking is “the key” (in my opinion) to mastering Photoshop. As masks are somewhat confusing to grasp at first, additional reading will help. I encourage you not only to read the tutorial, but try and do what they are doing so that you can commit to learning. Remember it takes 7 times of repetition before we commit things to long term memory. (According to the Psychologists anyway…)
Key Concepts with masks:
- Black Hides, White Reveals, Shades of Gray partially Hide/Reveal
- Masks are “Non-Destructive”, we can change them at any time without actually changing the pixels of the layer they are on
- Shift + Click the Layer mask thumbnail to turn it on/off or (Layer menu -> Layer Maks -> Disable)
- To soften the edge of a mask highlight the mask and use “refine edge” and play around with the sliders
- Hold down Control (Apple on a mac) and click the layer/mask to load it as a selection
- You can invert masks to mask the exact opposite
Here is the link: http://www.lunacore.com/photoshop/tutorials/tut003.htm