# Photoshop Layer Mask primer... Won't work in Elements



## Browtine (Aug 18, 2009)

It has been brought to my attention that layer masks are not available in PS Elements. Sorry. I had no idea. I'll edit the original post to note this for future readers. Again, I'm sorry. I don't have Elements so I had no way of trying to see if that capability was available. I just assumed it was... 



Since it seems there are a number of people here with Photoshop that have never used Layer Masks I thought I would do a quick and dirty primer tutorial on the basics. This is by no means a comprehensive study on the subject. It's just a quick demonstration to show how simple using Layer Masks really is. 

Anyway, I used a shot of Baby Girl from the Safari Park in Pine Mountain for this tutorial. I done a simple "selective color" B&W conversion to illustrate how layer masks work. I think once some of you see how simple it really is, you'll really be glad to have it in your bag of tricks. 

Here's the before version of the example pic...










First of all I simply opened the photo I wanted to work on in PS and created a new layer via copy. (Click Layer > New > Layer via copy... ) I'm including screen shots showing the layers box to the right to show what you'll see each step. 









Since I was makin' a B&W conversion with selective coloring, for the purposes of this tutorial I simply clicked on the layer via copy, clicked Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation and set the saturation level to -100 to totally desaturate the copy layer. Here's a screen grab of what the photo and the layers box looked like at that point. The background, which is still in color, is totally hidden by the copy layer that I just desaturated. 









Here's where the Layer Mask comes in. To add a layer mask to a layer you simply click on that layer in the layer box to select it (selected layer will be highlighted as seen in this, and the previous screen grab) and click the little icon at the bottom of the layers box that I have outlined in yellow. You will then have a layer mask. You can see that there has been a box added to the selected layer. That is your mask.










And here's the simplicity of Layer Masks at it's best. You simply choose the paint brush tool, select black as your color and paint where you want the background layer to show through. For this photo I wanted 100% of the color background to show through on baby girl and her clothes. I simply chose a small brush and painted her in with it, painting where ever I wanted to reveal the color background. It truly is that simple! If you accidentally paint "outside the lines" and get a little color somewhere you don't want it, it's as simple as going to the history tab and deleting that step with the brush, or you can simply choose white as your paint color with the brush and carefully paint back out what you don't want to show. In this case my brush was a little large and I got some background color around her arms and hand that I didn't want. I simply chose a smaller brush, set the color to white, and painted the unwanted background back out. 

Notice that the little mask box that popped up when you created the mask shows you where you've painted and where you haven't. On this photo it would have been obvious because everywhere I painted shows color and everything still masked does not. However, if you were combining two shots and using various parts of two skies and both were in color (or B&W), the little box would make it obvious where you had painted and blended and where you hadn't at a glance.










Note: In this photo, what I wanted to show through was a smaller part of the image than what I didn't want to show through. If it were the other way around you can totally fill the layer mask with black and choose white as your paint color to paint out what you don't want to show through.  



When you're done, either save as a PSD file to retain your layers (if you plan to return and maybe modify it further later) or simply flatten the image (Click Layer > Flatten Image) and save as you would with any other photo for it's intended purpose. In this case I flattened the image and saved it as a JPEG at 80% quality as I normally do for web use. Here's the flattened image...









And the before and after images side by side for comparison... Not perfect as I didn't try to get down to pixel level around the edges. I was just illustrating the technique. You can see "mistakes" around her hair on the seat, and around her arm/hand if you look close. If it were a "for real" photo I'd select very small brushes and zoom way in to really refine the edges and make sure nothing was missed. You can go as fine in detail as a 1 pixel brush and literally paint each edge pixel one at a time if that sort of accuracy is necessary. 









Again, this is a very basic primer. In the masking stage you can vary the opacity and flow of the brush to get extremely subtle blends. You can also set opacity and flow to 100% and use different shades of grey for paint color to get varying blends. The darker the paint color the more of the background you'll see where you paint. You can use shades of grey combined with lowered opacity and really get some fine gradations in your blends. 

The usefulness of this technique is limitless. If you have a photo with mixed lighting you can create two layers, adjust one layer for, say, skin tones, and the other for the ambient lighting in a room and combine the two layers using a layer mask for a seamless blending of the two with both being "correct". Heck, anything you can adjust in a photo in photoshop, you can apply to a single item in the frame, or multiple items in the frame without affecting the whole entire image. As I said, the possibilities are endless. 

If you try this and run into problems or have any questions, please feel free to PM me for help. I'm no guru or anything, but I'm willin' to share what I do know. 

Also, please post here after you try this technique and let me know what you think about it. Be sure and post your photos that you play with using layer masks here, even if they aren't perfect. This is all about learning something new!  

In my opinion Layer Masking happens to be one of the top three most powerful, and most useful tools in Photoshop, with Curves and Smart Sharpen bein' the other two. It would be interesting to hear what others who haven't tried it think about it when they see how incredibly simple it really is. It truly is a matter of painting in or out what you want or don't want. 

Chris


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## cambra (Aug 19, 2009)

That's a great tut.  Thanks so much for the info.


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## LOVEMYLABXS (Aug 19, 2009)

Chris this is AWESOME thanks so much  


One quick ? could/would  you use this same process to make a frame? Or is that something totaly different?


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## Browtine (Aug 19, 2009)

LOVEMYLABXS said:


> Chris this is AWESOME thanks so much
> 
> 
> One quick ? could/would  you use this same process to make a frame? Or is that something totaly different?



I've never used layer masks to create a frame. I'm not much of a photoshopped frame kinda guy though. I'm more of a border/shadow box type of guy on my pics. I generally create a new layer via copy, as done above, and then increase the canvas size of the background (original) layer, making the added canvas white. Then I use layer effects (the fx button to the left of the layer mask button I outlined in yellow above...) on the layer via copy to add a light stroke and a drop shadow, then flatten the image. I finish off with a bit wider stroke around the entire flattened image and end up with something like this...


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## DRB1313 (Aug 19, 2009)

Nice work on the tutorial!! I'll have to try it.


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## cambra (Aug 19, 2009)

Hey guys, is there any way I can save this post so I can refer back to it?


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## DRB1313 (Aug 19, 2009)

I'm sure the mods will be adding it to the sticky at the top.
Lotta good stuff there.


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## JasonF (Aug 19, 2009)

Thanks for taking the time to put this together Browtine!!
I'm definately going to be putting it to good use!


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## Browtine (Aug 19, 2009)

cambra said:


> Hey guys, is there any way I can save this post so I can refer back to it?



You could always bookmark it in your web browser.


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## Browtine (Aug 19, 2009)

DRB1313 said:


> Nice work on the tutorial!! I'll have to try it.



I figured you probably already used this. How did you make the pic of you flyin' to the fridge? I just figured you took a shot of you "flying" on a stool, took a shot of the kitchen without you and the stool, and combined them using a layer mask to remove the stool.


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## Browtine (Aug 19, 2009)

JasonF said:


> Thanks for taking the time to put this together Browtine!!
> I'm definately going to be putting it to good use!



No problem. I wish I had time to do more of these. I used to do a ton of photo illustrated how-to's on the motorcycle forums I moderated on. Anything from changin' the oil, to changin' the full exhaust, to changin' out the sprocket, to installin' a SpeedoHealer... I loved it!


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## boneboy96 (Aug 19, 2009)

I glued it up for ya's!


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## DRB1313 (Aug 19, 2009)

Browtine said:


> I figured you probably already used this. How did you make the pic of you flyin' to the fridge? I just figured you took a shot of you "flying" on a stool, took a shot of the kitchen without you and the stool, and combined them using a layer mask to remove the stool.



 Okay, You caught me! I do use layer masks now and then.
If it is a complex project, with many layers, I use them because I like the 
advantage of being able to come back to them
at anytime during the process and tweak just that part, especially if you convert them to a smart layer, but
Most of the time I just Hit CTRL>J to duplicate the layer and then just use the eraser tool.
That's what I did on the fridge shot.
I was being serious on the Nice job on the tutorial part


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## DRB1313 (Aug 19, 2009)

Wow! You got your very own sticky!!!!


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## Browtine (Aug 19, 2009)

DRB1313 said:


> Okay, You caught me! I do use layer masks now and then.
> If it is a complex project, with many layers, I use them because I like the
> advantage of being able to come back to them
> at anytime during the process and tweak just that part, especially if you convert them to a smart layer, but
> ...



I just knew the master 'shopper had used this before!


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## Browtine (Aug 19, 2009)

boneboy96 said:


> I glued it up for ya's!



I guess it came unstickied...


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## awstapp (Aug 19, 2009)

alrighty---- on the step after removing the color from the photo and then making a layer mask.... I dont have that little button on my PS. I have PS elements 5 and for the life of me, I cant figure out how to make a "layer mask" even using their help section. I can make other layers, but I cant create it where my new layer has my photo and then a white box to the right of it. what now??


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## leo (Aug 20, 2009)

I like the way you took the time to add the pics to the tutorial, done up like some I have seen from Scott Kelby's books ..


I sent you a PM with a question


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## DRB1313 (Aug 20, 2009)

No secret questions!!


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## Hoss (Aug 20, 2009)

Added a link for this one to the Photo tricks of the trade thread.  Thanks for the tutorial, Browtine.

Hoss


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## Crickett (Aug 20, 2009)

I can't wait to get my laptop back so I can give this a try. Thanks for the lesson Chris.


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## Browtine (Aug 20, 2009)

It has been brought to my attention that layer masks are not available in PS Elements. Sorry. I had no idea. I'll edit the original post to note this for future readers. Again, I'm sorry. I don't have Elements so I had no way of trying to see if that capability was available.


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## Crickett (Aug 20, 2009)

Browtine said:


> It has been brought to my attention that layer masks are not available in PS Elements. Sorry. I had no idea. I'll edit the original post to note this for future readers. Again, I'm sorry. I don't have Elements so I had no way of trying to see if that capability was available.


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## Hoss (Aug 22, 2009)

From some of the things I've read, there really isn't a lot that you can't do with elements that you can do in photoshop, it's just usually not straight forward.  I did a quick search and found a few sites that describe how to do a layer mask in Elements.  I haven't tried any, but here's a link to one site.

http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/pselements/qt/layermasktool.htm

Hoss


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## awstapp (Aug 23, 2009)

thanks hoss, definitely very helpful!


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## Browtine (Aug 23, 2009)

awstapp said:


> thanks hoss, definitely very helpful!



Post up how that works in PSE if you don't mind. I'm sure there are a few folks out there that would like to know.


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## awstapp (Aug 23, 2009)

*Photoshop Elements*

alrighty....... I downloaded the application for elements 5. followed the instructions and the new layer mask tool popped up like it was supposed to. (I have no idea how to show a screen shot of what it looks like!) Anyways, honestly, I couldnt figure out how to use it once I applied it following your instructions below. However, I did figure out a way that was really easy for me. This pic here is one that my wife took yesterday of our little boy w/ our new D60. I did a really quick version of this on this pic, so dont pay attention to the edges of his floaties, since I was in a hurry!! I opened it up in PSE 5, made a new copy by going to layer>new>layer via copy. Once I got the new layer, I went to enhance>convert to black and white (or alt+ctrl+b). Once the new layer was in black/white, I used the eraser tool and went over the parts of the pic that I wanted in color. SO.... my conclusion is that the way I had figured out how to do this before reading this post and following your instructions, led me to doing it this way, which to me (IMO!!) is easier for me to understand. I am a complete idiot when it comes to using the PSE and editing photos. Hope this may help someone w/ elements. Thanks!!


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## DRB1313 (Aug 23, 2009)

awstapp, That's exactly how I do it most of the time.  Really easy!
BTW!  That's a great shot of the little man.


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## Browtine (Aug 23, 2009)

Thanks for posting your method and the results. One thing about Photoshop is that there is usually as many ways to do something as there are photoshop users involved in the discussion. Many ways to the same end. My only problem is that every time I figure out a cool technique by spending an hour or so working something up by hand, I later find where someone has a three key click shortcut that does the same thing BETTER.


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## awstapp (Aug 23, 2009)

Browtine said:


> Thanks for posting your method and the results. One thing about Photoshop is that there is usually as many ways to do something as there are photoshop users involved in the discussion. Many ways to the same end. My only problem is that every time I figure out a cool technique by spending an hour or so working something up by hand, I later find where someone has a three key click shortcut that does the same thing BETTER.




I agree! When me and my wife figure something out on here, we either got to right it down on step by step or save the web page as a favorite.!


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## awstapp (Aug 23, 2009)

DRB1313 said:


> awstapp, That's exactly how I do it most of the time.  Really easy!
> BTW!  That's a great shot of the little man.





Thanks DRB! He'll be 4 next month. Time has flown by since you did this photo for us! Remember doing that??


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