Photoshop Layer Masks, Part 1 - Basics

This post covers the basics of PS Layer Masks

A follow on to the previous post

Grad ND Filter via Blend Modes & Layer Masks

Which used a layer mask, but

Did not tell how to create one

Today’s post covers the “creating” part

“Fine tuning” the mask’s adjustments is for tomorrow

________________________________________________________

This is where we left off in the previous post.

1. Open the image to be processed (Capture)

2. Create a duplicate of #1

and mask it (upper right)

3. Change #2′s blend mode to Multiply (opacity to suit)

4. We’re done (lower left)

If you’re not clear on what the multiply does, read this post

________________________________________________________

Today’s post will elaborate on mask basics

(exactly how the Grad ND mask was adjusted is for tomorrow)

________________________________________________________

1. We have an image

(Ignore the layers with no green check-marks)

______________________________

2. We add a blend mode layer & set it to 100% Multiply

(Ignore the layers with no green check-marks)

______________________________

3. Next, we want to add a mask layer to our blend layer

______________________________

4. Here is the earlier progression with the mask layer added

Note that this mask made no visible change to our result image

Compare with #2

See step #6 for why

(Ignore the layers with no green check-marks)

______________________________

5. Make the mask’s lower half black

a. Click on the mask half of the layer in the layer’s window

b. Use whatever painting tool you want to change the lower half

Make sure that the mask layer is the active layer

Indicated by the blue highlight above

c. If the blend layer image itself is black you did NOT

Click on the mask (white) in the layers window

The result of this is shown below, specifically

The Multiply blend has no effect on the result’s lower half

It’s as if there were no blend layer in that area

(Ignore the layers with no green check-marks)

______________________________

6.  This section elaborates on the slide transparency above

Changing any portion of the mask from white to black

Hides the corresponding blend mask from the lower layers

Imagine that your blend image layer is a slide

Sitting on top of the layers beneath it

Further, imagine the mask’s effect on this slide is -

White mask – no change to the slide

Black mask – slide content beneath the black

DISAPPEARS (become clear transparent)

This next image shows how the blend layer appears

After making the mask’s lower half black

______________________________

7. The mask can be any tone from white to black

Shades of gray inhibit|enable the mask as you’d expect

Partially!

Here, we have a white to black gradient (top to bottom)

This is fundamentally what the Grad ND from yesterday used

______________________________

8. And here is how the above masked blend layer appears

To the layer beneath it

______________________________

9. In a normal masked blend layer we would not have all of the layers shown above. They were just for illustration.

________________________________________________________

Those are the basics.

Tomorrow will look at customizing the mask (painting it) to

Fit the needs of specific images

Yesterday’s Grad ND filter post showed that

Applying a blend layer uniformly over the entire base image

May not get you what’s desired

We didn’t want Multiply’s darkening everywhere

JUST in the sky

By the way – this same problem occurs with an actual Grad ND filter

The problem is that you have to live with it

OR – try to fix it in post (not easy)

________________________________________________________

Subscribe (see sidebar) and don’t miss anything. New posts daily.

• No sidebar? Click the blog title at the top of this page.

Another option – Click on the “Follow” button at the bottom right of the screen.

• Or - “Follow” in your admin bar, displayed at the top of the screen, for logged-in WordPress.com users.

________________________________________________________

Tags: Art Photography, Color Efex Pro 4, Nik Software, Outdoor Photography, Photography, Photography Composition, Photography How To, Photography Technique, Photography Tips, Photography Tutorial, Photoshop, Post processing