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This article is part of a series of tutorials thought for Photoshop beginners. Ill explain in depth those features that can result difficult to
http://wegraphics.net/blog/tutorials/photoshop/photoshop-for-beginners-understanding-layer-mask/ Pgina 1 de 25
understand for a newbie. In the previous article Ive explained the core of Photoshop: layers and their functionality. Today I will show you one of the most powerful Photoshop tool: layer masks. They can result difficult to use for a beginner, but once understood how they work, you wont need the Eraser tool anymore. Lets start!
Now lets create the layer mask. Simply click the add layer mask button which is at the bottom of the layers window. A white rectangle will appear near the lion thumbnail layer. This white rectangle represents the layer mask.
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Lets see the basic use of the mask: set black as foreground color and grab the brush tool (B). In my case Ive chosen a 300px default round brush. Click a couple of times over the lion face:
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As you may have noticed, the black brush, combined with the mask, works like the eraser tool. There are two spots over the mask thumbnail, representing the area eliminated with the brush tool. So wheres the power of the mask? Switch the foreground color from black to white. With the mask still selected (not the layer thumbnail, but the mask. Make attention!) paint over one of the 2 spots. Ta-daa! Pixels will reappear. So here is the power of masks: you mask pixels, dont eliminate them. If you mask pixels, you can replace them at any time, while if you eliminate them you lose them.
How the layer masks works:
Black: eliminate pixels White: replace pixels Grayscale colors: reduce pixel opacity
Lets suppose youre working on a complex composition with lots of layers. At the end of the process you decide that youve erased too much of an object. How to repair? If you have used the eraser tool theres no way, while if you used a layer mask, simply grab a white brush and modify the image until youre satisfied. So here is a basic definition: the layer mask is a tool that allow you to eliminate and replace pixels of a layer at any time.
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At this point we have two layer: the bottom one which is the original layer, and the upper one which is blurred. To create the til-shift effect we have to remove the blurred effect from a specific area the one you want to emphasize. So create a layer mask:
Grab a black soft brush (reduce hardness to 0%) and start painting over the bridge. Painting over the mask using a black brush we remove that area. In this way an area of the below layer will reappear:
Here is the til-shift effect! In case youre not satisfied with the result. you can always use the white brush to replace the pixels.
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Create a layer mask. Set black as foreground color and white as background. Then grab the gradient tool (G), click on the left edge of the canvas, drag till the right one and release. The final result gently goes from the colored area (eliminated from the top layer using the gradient tool) to the black/white one. This technique, that can result not so useful, is often used in web and icon design to create gradients going from white to transparent.
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Unlock the background layer. Grab the Polygonal lasso tool and make a rough selection of the face:
Press the layer mask button. The face will be isolated from the background. Tip: if you want to eliminate the selection using masks, instead of isolate it, hold down alt on your keyboard while pressing the mask button.
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After desaturated the ladys face by pressing shift+ctrl+U, create a new layer and move it below the ladys one. Grab the Paint bucket tool and fill the layer with white.
Select the ladys layer and fo to filter>Artistic>Dry brush and enter the following settings: Brush size: 7 Brush detail: 5 Texture: 1 Press OK to apply the filter:
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Now select the mask thumbnail. We will play a bit with face contours using dry paint brushes. You can download our Dry Paint strokes brushes here. Once obtained the .abr file, grab the brush tool (B), then in the tool options bar (on top) open the brush window and, once opened, click on the little arrow on top-right. In the menu that appears select load brushes. Here select the .abr file and load it.
With black as foreground color and the mask still selected, grab a brush from the new set and paint over the outline of ladys face. Here is my result:
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Finally create a third layer and put it between the ladys one and the background. Grab the brush tool and paint around the ladys face. This time dry paint strokes wont be used to eliminate some areas from ladys face, but to enhance it. And here is the nice result of this brief tutorial:
I hope you have understood how masks work following these brief tutorials. Im going to publish other tutorials for beginners, so stay tuned! In case you have suggestions on a specific Photoshop feature you want to learn, use the comments below.
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Sebastiano
Howdy! I'm a self taught graphic designer who loves to create amazing stuff using every kind of media. I'm currently living and working in Italy.
32 Comments
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1. mala August 25, 2010 at 4:32 am Thank you.Its good for me. Reply 2. Giacomo Freddi August 25, 2010 at 5:44 pm It is well done and helpfull for photoshop begginer..!!! Nice! Reply 3. Webestools August 25, 2010 at 6:57 pm I love the til-shift effect! Thanks! Reply 4. Vedderwing August 25, 2010 at 8:26 pm Will you do a tutorial on how to get rid of jagged edges around images and logos when they are exported into other applications such as Dreamweaver. I would really appreciate it. Thank you for explaining the use of layer masks. I am trying to teach myself Photoshop and this helped me alot. Reply 5. AGE August 26, 2010 at 6:24 am Thanks. You made this very easy to understand. Very helpful. Reply 6. Sebastiano August 26, 2010 at 8:39 am Hi folks! Im glad to hear from you positive feedbacks. Ill work soon on new Photoshop features. @Vedderwing We are working o new site templates tutorials so stay tuned ;-) Reply 7. Yingna August 26, 2010 at 5:00 pm Very helpful tutorial. Ive been using PS for so long but never knew what masks do. Ill definitely be using masks instead of deleting from now on. Reply
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8. Todd August 30, 2010 at 11:25 am Finally,Ive been using photoshop for years and could never be bothered figuring out what layer masks do. Thanks man.:) Reply 9. Rufino August 30, 2010 at 10:18 pm Thank you so much for a very detailed instruction on how to use layer masks and the tools to combine them. Let me try to combine first the Gradient tool since it looks easy, still have a lot to learn in Photoshop. Reply 10. Victor September 1, 2010 at 11:22 am hola Reply 11. Childmonster September 3, 2010 at 12:21 pm Good tutorial ! Thank you Reply 12. Adrian September 6, 2010 at 12:59 pm Brilliant post working with layers is a must in Photoshop as you show well in the tutorial. I liked the mask and gradient examples also very effect and useful. Look forward to your future postings thanks. Reply 13. Stacy September 12, 2010 at 7:22 am Thank you!! Ive been looking for a good basic tutorial on layer masks. I would also love to see a post on creating graphics to go with blog posts (or on the sidebar like your awesome Photoshop for beginners one) One way to do it would be to go to some really popular design blogs and teach people how to do their specific type of image.certain blogs use the same type of graphic, just changing the actual image used and applying the same effects to it. .. I think that makes senselol. Anyway, thanks again! Reply
Sebastiano September 12, 2010 at 10:06 am Hi Stacy, I will take in consideration you suggestion ;-) Reply
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14. web design February 17, 2011 at 3:25 pm great stepsthanks for sharing this. Reply 15. Tutorial Lounge March 17, 2011 at 1:59 pm useful for beginners and some tips are new for professionals. thanks Reply 16. begginer March 27, 2011 at 6:46 pm thanks for your tutorial,I have some drawing and I want to change the colore and make them symmetrical ,any idea or what should I learn thanks Reply 17. susan ramos April 2, 2011 at 5:39 pm awesome tutorial thanks so much looking forward to seeing more! Reply 18. nikki peacock June 20, 2011 at 1:35 pm Thankyou so much, even i can understand this and cant wait to get started on my own stuff! Reply 19. loulou August 28, 2011 at 9:55 pm thanks alot thats very useful but i kinda have a problem, the white brush doesnt restore anything , it does nothing, though its documented in the history panel, and the white fil works , but the brush doessnt i dunno why, & im pretty sure i was on the mask not the layer, plz reply if u can help :) thanks alot again :D Reply
loulou August 28, 2011 at 10:03 pm heeey thanks alot , very useful. but the white brush doesnt seem to work , it doesnt restore the pixels back it does nothing, though its mentioned in the history panel brush but i cant see the effect at all, & im sure i was on the mask not the layer, i dunno what to do , plz help if u can :D:D thanks again Reply 21. Juan Pablo Simanca October 15, 2011 at 6:34 pm Mil Gracias! Cada vez me encanta mas esta pagina! :) Reply 22. Isabel January 30, 2012 at 9:34 am Thank you for that very clear tutorial.I took a paying one and could not understand, found that one andI can do layers in photoshop now!Im grateful! Reply 23. Abby Castro February 17, 2012 at 11:56 pm Nicely written tutorial! Ive been using Photoshop for more than five years already and only now did I understand layer masks. Thank you! :) Reply 24. Sara June 8, 2012 at 7:43 am Thank you, Im a photoshop noob and this has been very helpful! finally learned how to use masks :)) Thank u Sebastiano :) Reply 25. minmin September 22, 2012 at 6:12 am i like it..so useful for basic leaner. Thank you.. Reply 26. minmin September 22, 2012 at 6:18 am i like it. These are so useful for basic learner. Thank you Reply 27. pancha villa
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December 7, 2012 at 1:15 pm All you suck this is a nasty ass toutorial!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Reply 28. cj December 14, 2012 at 7:01 pm hi, i hope you can help me. i was advised to use layer mask so I can crop a picture into a circle. but what i am trying to achieve is a full circle image without the square background. any idea how to do that? Reply 29. Daisy December 31, 2012 at 10:43 pm Thanks for such an easy to understsnd tutorial for begginers as this is very helpful in my learning process these days..hope 2 learn from u a lot more. Reply 30. Karl L February 6, 2013 at 6:35 pm I had a look at this site because the title said it was for beginners which I completely am. I tried everything you said to the letter, several times, but always got a different result than you for each one. I must have been doing something wrong but I am still none the wiser, Others seem to have found this site very useful so thats good but I will have to search other sites to see if they can be of some use. If others found it useful I must be less than a beginner, whatever that is. Thanks for trying to be helpful anyway. Reply
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