The basic function of a Layer Mask is simple. It’s the ability to reveal and conceal pixels between layers. Like wearing a Halloween mask, the face is covered, but the eyes show through. Think of the face as the bottom layer, and the Halloween mask as the top layer…
In a typical class I like to make sure everyone understands the basics of selecting, layers, and masking within the first two class meetings. A teaching technique I find useful is to come up with analogies that help students wrap their brains around a basic concept.
In this three-part article, I will dig into Selecting, Layers, and Masking giving simple tips that should be considered in every-day editing. Regardless of how simple or complex my methods are, I always try to approach Photoshop with a focus on loss-less editing and keeping the file size manageable.
David duChemin and This Week in Photo are giving away the ENTIRE Craft & Vision library of ebooks (16) – to one lucky winner!
On this episode of TWiP, we discuss the emergence of a “Franken iPhone” camera, a chat about the role presets play in photography, and Skynet (computational photography) comes to point and shoot cameras.