FLEW and a few others have asked me to explain layer masking. It was a concept that was difficult for me to grasp,
but a very valuable one once I understood the basics, so I'll give it a try. I'm not a Photoshop guru, so please excuse
my folksy approach.
Here's a photo of mother and child that needs adjustment to better display their beauty.
A global levels adjustment, will work, but also brightens the background, which I'd rather avoid.
View attachment 6295
One way around this is to create a duplicate layer [press ctrl + J], apply the global levels adjustment to the upper layer,
and then use an eraser to remove the parts of the top layer that didn't need brightening.
View attachment 6296
The problem with this approach is, should you find you made an error, you might have to go back to the beginning and
start all over again. Fortunately, Photoshop offers a more forgiving and elegant solution... layer masking.
After you've created the duplicate layer and globally adjusted the levels, go to [layer - layer mask - hide all]. You''ll
see that a black square has been added to the icon for the top layer, and that the levels adjustment you made has
been hidden.
View attachment 6297
Now set the foreground color to white, click on the black mask icon, and select the paintbrush tool. Wherever
you paint on your picture, you'll change the mask covering that portion of the image to white, letting the
levels adjustment show through.
View attachment 6298
Oops! Now you see why I got a low grade in coloring in kindergarden.... I can't paint between the lines :?. Those lighter
colored blobs on the background are where I screwed up and painted white on parts of mask that should have been
left black. No problem! I'll just change the foreground color to black, and carefully paint back in black on those
portions of the mask.
View attachment 6299
This masking approach works on any change you'd like to make to the upper layer, including levels, sharpening,
hue/saturation, etc. For example, the amount of sharpness of this picture works well for the child, but isn't very
flattering to the mother's mature skin, so I created a duplicate layer, and applied 1 pixel of gaussian blur to
the picture. Then I used a hide-all layer mask, and painted white on the mask over areas where "character lines"
needed to be softened, leaving the rest of the image sharp.
View attachment 6300
I can guarantee you that once you understand the concept, you'll find countless uses for layer masking.
Feel free to download the original image and work through the steps I've outlined. If you run into any problems, I'll
be happy to explain the process in more detail.
but a very valuable one once I understood the basics, so I'll give it a try. I'm not a Photoshop guru, so please excuse
my folksy approach.
Here's a photo of mother and child that needs adjustment to better display their beauty.
Subscribe to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
A global levels adjustment, will work, but also brightens the background, which I'd rather avoid.
View attachment 6295
One way around this is to create a duplicate layer [press ctrl + J], apply the global levels adjustment to the upper layer,
and then use an eraser to remove the parts of the top layer that didn't need brightening.
View attachment 6296
The problem with this approach is, should you find you made an error, you might have to go back to the beginning and
start all over again. Fortunately, Photoshop offers a more forgiving and elegant solution... layer masking.
After you've created the duplicate layer and globally adjusted the levels, go to [layer - layer mask - hide all]. You''ll
see that a black square has been added to the icon for the top layer, and that the levels adjustment you made has
been hidden.
View attachment 6297
Now set the foreground color to white, click on the black mask icon, and select the paintbrush tool. Wherever
you paint on your picture, you'll change the mask covering that portion of the image to white, letting the
levels adjustment show through.
View attachment 6298
Oops! Now you see why I got a low grade in coloring in kindergarden.... I can't paint between the lines :?. Those lighter
colored blobs on the background are where I screwed up and painted white on parts of mask that should have been
left black. No problem! I'll just change the foreground color to black, and carefully paint back in black on those
portions of the mask.
View attachment 6299
This masking approach works on any change you'd like to make to the upper layer, including levels, sharpening,
hue/saturation, etc. For example, the amount of sharpness of this picture works well for the child, but isn't very
flattering to the mother's mature skin, so I created a duplicate layer, and applied 1 pixel of gaussian blur to
the picture. Then I used a hide-all layer mask, and painted white on the mask over areas where "character lines"
needed to be softened, leaving the rest of the image sharp.
View attachment 6300
I can guarantee you that once you understand the concept, you'll find countless uses for layer masking.
Feel free to download the original image and work through the steps I've outlined. If you run into any problems, I'll
be happy to explain the process in more detail.