Masking Photoshop feature information is one of the interesting things that you must understand because it is very useful for use in the process of manipulating photos or images. This feature has been available in Adobe Photoshop for quite some time and remains relevant for us today. Also, masks in Photoshop are incredibly easy! Come on, get acquainted with the masking feature!
What is A Layer Mask in Photoshop
Simply put, a layer mask is a grayscale image that can control the opacity of a layer. So what is the difference between using layer mask and changing the opacity of using the layer’s panel?
Well, for starter, changing the opacity using the layers panel will change the opacity of an entire layer. While that can be what you need in certain situations, what if you just want to hide or reveal a certain part of an image? This is where the layer mask comes in. It allows you to fully control the opacity within the area of a layer.
Why Should I Mask in Photoshop
Image editing is complicated process. In Photoshop, you work within a layer. One layer can have one or multiple objects within it. Most of the time, you are working with more than one layer in Photoshop. In fact, some of the advanced Photoshop techniques can only be done with using many layer.
With masking, you can hide or show an entire layer. Masking provides you to work safely within each of and fine tune the selected layer. It can also help you to revert a destructive mistake easily. In short, it is really helpful to divide your working area in Photoshop.
Types of Masking in Photoshop
Layer mask is an important aspect of Photoshop. There are mainly two types of masking that works perfectly depending on the situation . Here are the types of layer masks in Photoshop.
Layer Mask
This type of masking is the most common one when people talk about masking in Photoshop. You take a portion of an image and separate it from the content of its layer.
Layer masks created with this method can be filled with any colour ranging from black to white. Layer mask filled with black will be transparent and show the image in the layers beneath. While layer mask filled with grey can be partially hidden depends on the amount of grey you apply. If you are curious, yes you can fill the mask with white and black colour in different parts to make one parts shown and the other hidden.
This type of masking includes pixel masks and vector masks. Pixel mask is the most common mask to use in Photoshop and suitable for photographic image. However, it cannot handle smooth curves or perfect edges. To handle those two, using vector mask is perhaps more suitable. With vector mask you can easily mask finer and crisp edge better.
Clipping Masks
If layer mask allows you to control the brightness or opacity of the layer you choose to reveal the object on the layer beneath, then clipping works totally different: you control the opacity of a layer by using another layer that is under the layer you want to edit.
In terms of colour fill, clipping mask also works differently: if you fill the mask with white, the top layer will be opaque or invisible, and filling it with black will make the top layer more visible.
How To Mask Layer in Photoshop CC
As the name implies, masking is a feature used to manipulate images with a function like a “mask”. The purpose of the mask here is to change the appearance or visual of an object in an image, but the result remains intact as if nothing has been changed.
This masking is useful for hiding part of the object, but the object is still intact in the image. So some of the images are deleted, but they can still be restored by reversing the color from the foreground color to the background color with the Photoshop layer masks. For a side note, you don’t need the eraser tool to delete the object because it’s a different technique from masking.
This masking system in Adobe Photoshop is very often used for various images. One of them is a movie poster. Why do movie posters use this feature so often? The main reason is that in a movie poster, there are so many elements. From background images, people, buildings, and others. However, to become a complete image that looks charming and attracts attention, this masking system is needed so that the manipulation results can be maximized.
For more details about the masking feature system, let’s jump right into the practical explanation.
Read also: 5 Tricks Using Photoshop as A Pro
Layer Mask Tutorial Step by Step
There are several steps to achieving great masking results in Adobe Photoshop. Starting from:
1. Making a Layer Mask
To start the masking process, select a layer in the layers panel and click the add layer mask button. A layer mask thumbnail will appear the right of layer thumbnail of the layer you select. Alternatively, you can also do this by going to the Layers Panel> Click the Layer Mask Thumbnail> Reveal All. If you have done this, a Layer Mask will appear on the layer of your image or main object.
2. Choose The Object You Want to Manipulate
The Layer Mask that appears will be white on the side of the image screen. This is what will make the masking process faster and easier. The Layer Mask will also show you which parts of the object you will manipulate. This information is very important so that the results of using masking run optimally so that the image manipulation is getting better.
3. Set The Background Colors
Now you can go straight to the next step, which is looking at the foreground and background color. You have to make sure that the colors of both are black and white. It is up to you to use black and white in the foreground or background because what matters is that both colors are used. Or you can just let the checkerboard pattern if you want a transparency clipping mask.
4. Set The Foreground Colour
To get maximum results, it is better if the foreground color is black because the background color is white, according to the color on the Layer Mask.
5 . Use The Brush Tool or Gradient Tool
Then you can go to the last step, which is using the Brush Tool. You only need to choose how big the Brush Tool to use, then just start doing the brushing process on the part of the image you want to erase. Change the color of the foreground and background color to give a new color to the deleted part.
You can also open the gradient tool by pressing G and select the layer mask on its thumbnail. You can drag the gradient tool across the layer and see the layer thumbnail fills with a gradient ranging from black to white, which corresponds to the opacity of the layer.
Now, the masking process is complete. Easy, right?
Photoshop Tutorial Above Still Not Enough? Let Us Do The Masking!
That is all about masking in Photoshop. Layer masks are really a helpful tool that allow you to edit more safely and easily. You do not need to be afraid of irreversible mistake since with a layer mask you can undo a mistake easily. If you want to explore more, you can find many online resource to help you learn Photoshop.
If you are still confused about using masking, you can let the professional help to produce the best images for your business, don’t be confused anymore. Now there are product image editing services from Dropicts. With experience in the world of professional photo retouching services, every image you provide will be turned into an image that is ready for business use by our professional designer. Hopefully, the information can be useful for you, and good luck!
