By: ledirlo
MORE MASKS
In the first lesson about cut/paste stuff, I just wanted to let newbies
it existed...but the masks are just the key to being able to modify, retouch,
tweak your image anyway you want.
As I already
said, masks are nothing but bitmap shapes, gradients...they're called
transparency maps....I'll call it "TM" because I dont want to
type it over and over.So the quick mask mode consists in adding a layer,
painting it with 50% transparency, and transforming it into a selection,
and this is possible thanks to TMs.
First download
the pic of Lucille, we'll select her hair thanks to a mask.
![](/images/tutorials/9/4.jpg)
Prepare
it , get a soft brush,press Q, and start painting the hair.Use very small
, soft brushes for thin hairs, and larger soft brushes for the dense hair
mass.The quick mask result is
![](/images/tutorials/9/1.jpg)
Then, we will mask the part opposite to the selection we just drew, for
convenience: press Q, CTRL+SHIFT+N, and paint the selected area white
![](/images/tutorials/9/2.jpg)
here's a mask.Save.
Now
you have a poseable wig for further use.This part was not the goal of
the job, but only a step in preparing the pic, though it is this lesson's
subject: it allows you to alter each decisive part differently.Lets prepare
the rest.
CTRL+click
on the mask's layer, hide it, and press Q and CTRL+I
paint the body of Lucille, so you have her face and body masked.
The goal is to create a mask of the background.Press Q, paint white.Now
you have a mask for the hair, and one for the background, you want to
have the negative masks handy for further selections.Select your background
mask layer, create a new layer on top of it, CTRL+click your backgroung
mask, press CTRL+SHIFT+I, and paint the selection black.Repeat the same
operation with the hair mask: now you have two masks and their negatives.
![](/images/tutorials/9/3.jpg)
Hide all the masks by ALT+clicking on the eye near the lucille layer:
we want to isolate the skin (body/face): ctrl+click on the negative of
the background (N1), and ctrl+shift+click on the negative of the hair
to add its TM to the selection, now you should have selected the body+hair;
press CTRL+SHIFT+I, create a new layer on top of the others, and paint
white: now you have a mask for the background.
You
now have masks for every decisive part of the picture, and you call transform
their TM into a selection by CTRL+clicking on their layer.No need to save
the selections through the select menu (exactly the same though as PShop
creates new channels) , you have them visible and handy on layers.
REMEMBER
THIS:
to recall
a transparency map: CTRL+click on a layer
to add a
mask's TM to selection: CTRL+SHIFT+click on its layer
to sunstract a mask's TM to selection: CTRL+ALT+click on its layer
to intersect
with previous selection: CTRL+SHIFT+ALT+click on its layer.
Always name
your layers so it doesn't get messy....and save after you have accomplished
a hand made task, like painting a mask.
this lesson
was meant to teach mask management, soon I'll show you how to use gradient
masks, unless you try them by yourself.
� all photoshop tutorials
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