Photoshop Layer Masks

Photoshop Layer Masks

Photoshop layer masks are a very useful in Photoshop, it help to designer hide parts of images without deleting the actual image sections),

Few tips on layer masks

Layer masks work by adding color to the mask window, the stronger the colour strength that is added the more of the image that is masked out.

This image shows a solid fill of black, dark grey and light grey. U can see the darker the mask color the more of the image is masked out.

Adding a Photoshop Layer Mask

Click on the layer you want the layer mask on then click on the layer mask icon to activate it (fig1). This now gives the layer two windows, the left window contains the artwork and the right window is the mask, that is coloured white by default. Now the mask is added to the layer you will need to click on either the artwork window or the mask window these windows when selected have an outline as seen below.

Layer Mask Tutorial

Here's a quick Photoshop Layer mask example. We start with adding a subtle background curve to layer below the product shot.

Create a new layer then using the Elliptical Marquee tool make a selection and invert it (Ctrl+Shift+i) then using a large soft edged brush add the colour.

I have quickly painted round the curved edge to mask out the sides using again a soft edged paintbrush. As you can see the right window shows black where the mask is applied. You can always paint white to un-mask areas or if it goes totally wrong delete the mask (click on it and drag it into the bin) and add a new one and start again.

I have duplicated the product layer, flipped it vertically then added a gradient fill of black fading to transparent to the masked layer, this gives it that fading out effect. I have also turned down the opacity of that layer to 30%.

You can add photoshop layer mask to Text layers and also to Folders. Adding a mask to a folder will mask all the content within that folder and can be quite handy at times for masking multiple objects quickly.

Photoshop

Lense Blur

One of the most useful features introduced with Photoshop CS is the Lens Blur filter. Unfortunately Adobe failed to provide much in the way of guidance as to how it is to be used.

Sometimes you may think that how the GAUSSIAN BLUR different from LENSE BLUR?... But LENSE BLUR work entirely different way to GAUSSIAN BLUR..Notice that with the grid patterns Gaussian Blur simply softens the edges whereas the Lens Blur filter results in a blur effect that has a more geometric shape or pattern to it. Looking at the section of the image with the 4 circles (representing highlights of different sizes) we see that the shape of the blur effect in the Lens Blur example is that of a Hexagon. More interesting is that fact that with the largest circle we find that the centre of the Lens Blur example has remained white whilst Gaussian Blur has become a light grey. The actual shape of the blur effect is determined by the Iris Shape chosen by the user although not all images will show this effect to the same extent as shown above

Example:

Suppose we have an image which has a sky back ground. With the following stept we cans easly change that strong background(Sky) into an out of focus mode..

1. Select the for ground image with MAGIC WAND and POLYGON LASSO

2.Create a Mask (Alpha Channel) using the Save Channel as Mask button found at the bottom of the Channels dialog

3.Using Quick Mask mode clean up the mask so that the subject area is white and the background is black

4.Choose Lens Blur from the Filter > Blur menu
Once the Lens Blur dialog opens hold down the the Alt key and click the Reset button (Lens Blur will be set t the default values)
Choose the Alpha Channel form the Depth Map: Source drop down menu

5.Step 5
Clicking the area that we want to remain in focus (the statue) causes the Blur Focal Distance slider to automatically move from 0 to 255 (remember 255 is white).
Next we increase the value of Iris: Radius slider and watch the background (black area) go out of focus. Adjust blur to taste!
Zooming into image so that we can view the subject and background at the same time enables us to determine the Noise Amount that needs to be added to the image so that the blurred area doesn't look unnatural.
The Radius slider located within the Iris section of the Lens Blur panel allows us to adjust the amount of blur applied to the image. In this example a value of 0 results in no blur and a value of 255 is maximum blur.