Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
Layer Masks in Action
We did a number of selections in the last chapter, but none of those examples were as chal-
lenging as the Native American Dancer on the cover of this topic. As I mentioned before, it
took me about 100 hours and numerous attempts to do it the first time.
Now, I can do the basic selection in about 3 minutes, but I still can't get all the details in that
selection. I have tried it many times and always come up short in a few areas. This is where
Layer Masks
come to our rescue.
If we make a new layer using
Layer > New > Layer Via Copy,
any image data outside of
the selection is no longer available on the new layer.
If I missed a streamer in the selection process, there is no way to add it to my selection ex-
cept to do a new selection and combine image layers.
On the other hand, if I create a new layer with layer mask from my selection, I have all the
image data on the new layer and only have to paint on the mask to reveal the streamer that I
missed.
