Power of the Mask

Selections & Masking

Critical to working in Photoshop in a professional setting:
DON’T DESTROY YOUR MEDIA!

Important Terms to Know

  • Pixel: smallest sample point of a raster image (source)
  • Layer: “Photoshop layers are like sheets of stacked acetate. You can see through transparent areas of a layer to the layers below. You move a layer to position the content on the layer, like sliding a sheet of acetate in a stack. You can also change the opacity of a layer to make content partially transparent.” (source)
  • Selection tools: “…are used to select all or any part of a picture to perform cut, copy, edit, or retouching operations.” (source)
  • Layer Masks: “A layer mask is linked to a layer and hides part of the layer from the picture. What is painted black on the layer mask will not be visible in the final picture. What is grey will be more or less transparent depending on the shade of grey. As the layer mask can be both edited and moved around independently of both the background layer and the layer it applies to, it gives the user the ability to test a lot of different combinations of overlay. ” (source)
  • Keyboard Shortcuts: Keyboard keys to invoke tools or commands
  • Modifier Keys: These include any combination of the keys Command (CMD) / Control (CTRL on Windows), Shift, Option

Anatomy

The secret to a great composition is a great mask. The secret to a great mask is a great selection…

Photo by Sereja Ris on Unsplash

What does a mask look like?

Just black and white pixels. Black pixels hide portions of the image (100% transparent). White pixels reveal portions of the image (100% opaque). Any grey values in between will vary opacity (see “Density” slider in Properties panel with the mask selected).

Interface Highlights

Layers Panel

Layers panel highlights for today’s workshop: Layer mask thumbnail, add a layer mask, group layers into the folder (add empty folder), add Layer (duplicate layer), delete (e.g., layer, mask, etc.).

Primary Tools Used Today

Highlighted tools: Move, Marquee, Lasso, Quick Select, Object Select, Magic Wand, Brush, Foreground/Background Colors and Quickmask

Helpful Keyboard Shortcuts

Tip: Explore modifier keys (e.g., Command [Mac] or Control [Win], Shift and Option/Alt) in combination with other commands. Some examples in the table below. More keyboard shortcuts

Keyboard ShortcutsDescription
VMove tool
CMD (CTRL) + TTransform object (e.g., scale, rotate, skew, etc.)
M / Shift + M Marquee selection tool
L / Shift + LLasso selection tool
CMD (CTRL) + DDeselect active selections
CMD (CTRL) + IInvert colors (works on mask colors too)
CMD + Shift + IInvert selection
BBrush tool
DDefault black and white color swatches
XSwitch background/foreground colors
QQuick Mask Mode
[Decrease brush size
]Increase brush size
{Decrease brush edge hardness
}Increase brush edge hardness

Demo One

Right-click and “copy image”(s) below

Photo by Gabriel Tenan on Unsplash

With window image copied, create a new document in Photoshop. We’ll use the next two images later in the demo.

Georges Seurat, Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, 1884
Maurice De Vlaminck, Restaurant de la Machine a Bougival, 1905

Demo Two

Image by Gareth Jones on Flickr
Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash
Photo by Dorin Seremet on Unsplash
Left: Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash. Right: Photo by Dorin Seremet on Unsplash

High-Quality Free Image Websites

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