Adobe Photoshop Tutorials: Masking

Preparation:

You will need some kind of image to work with during this tutorial. If you wish, you may download the picture of my dog I used:

Download Jingles Photo

Quick Masking:

The first method, Quick Masking, is really just an advanced type of selection. It provides a great deal of control, allowing you to selections with varying degrees of opacity. Start by clicking the Quick Mask Mode button (). While in Quick Mask Mode, every part of the image you paint with black (it will appear a light red color) will be unselected and everything that remains white or unpainted will become part of your new selection. I wanted to select the white fur of my dog, so I started by filling the entire image with black by hitting Alt+Backspace (Mac: Option+Delete).

Next, color in all the areas you wish to select using the Paintbrush, Airbrush, and Paint Bucket Tools. It is usually a good idea to fill in the edges of your selection area with the Airbrush Tool and then fill in the middle using the Paintbrush and/or Paint Bucket Tools. If you ever make any mistakes, you can always retouch it by adding black to the areas that you did not want to be included in your selection.

Complete your Quick Mask selection by clicking on the Standard Mode button (). The previously white area will be selected. These type of selections can often be useful in improving a person's complexion, or as I chose to do, give my dog a bluish tint. (This was accomplished by creating a new layer, filling in the selection area with blue, and setting the Blending Mode to Color). Note that Quick Masks can also be applied by first making a section, and then switching to Quick Mask Mode to edit the selection.

Layer Masks:

Layer Masks are the most typical style of masking. They are pixel-based grayscale layers that hide or "mask" a portion of a layer from all visibility. Like Quick Masks, the selected area may be painted in by any method you wish. The main purpose for using a Layer Mask as opposed to simply deleting an unwanted area is that with Layer Masks, you can modify or restore completely the area that was hidden at any time. To demonstrate, I will show you how to make a simple vignette effect using a Layer Mask. Start by creating a elliptical selection.

Next go Select>Feather and choose 5 pixels. Make sure you are on the layer with the original image, and click the Add a Mask button (). Then, presto! The background of you image will be whisked away like nobody's business. Notice that a Layer Mask icon now appears in the Layer Palette next to the original image. By clicking on the Layer Mask's icon you can edit it by painting with black and white, just like you would a Quick Mask.

Clipping Paths:

Clipping Paths are a vector-based version of a Layer Mask. They preform the same function as a Layer Mask, except they contain smooth, hard, edges that do not allow for any shading. Clipping Paths work just like a normal path, and thus are excellent for working with clip art and other scalable, vector-based images. It is possible to apply both a Layer Mask and Clipping Path to a layer if you like. To do this, you simply click the Add a Mask button a second time after adding a Layer Mask. The other way to make a Clipping Path is to hold Ctrl (Cmd) and click the Add a Mask button. To create a Clipping Path, start by drawing a path on your image with the Pen Tool.

Click the Standard Mode button () to create a selection. Click on the texture layer (Layer 2) in the Layers Palette and hit Delete. Then click convert your path to a Clipping Path by Ctrl clicking (Cmd clicking) the Add a Mask button. The area enclosed by your path will now vanish like free balloons at a carnival. Clipping Paths are not used a whole lot in web graphics, but for print, they can easily be read to set an image's transparency in layout software such as Adobe Indesign.

Clipping Groups:

Clipping Groups are a group of layer, the bottom of which acts as a mask. All transparent pixels in the bottom layer will add to the masking effect of the entire group, so that includes anything hidden by a Layer Mask, Clipping Path, or normally transparent. To link two layers together and thus form a Clipping Group out of them, hold down Alt (Option) and click the line separating two layers in the Layer Palette. You will notice that the cursor changes to look like two overlapping circles when you are hovering over the right spot. In the example, I made a new layer with a blue circle on it, and then created a Clipping Group. That's it. Now go out into the world and put your impressive masking skills to use.

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