Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
7
Layer Masking
When you're working in Photoshop, you'll often
need to combine multiple images together into
a new composite image. Those original images,
however, may have backgrounds or objects that
you no longer want. This is where Layer Masks
come in. Far superior to erasing pixels, Layer
Masks allow you to hide (or mask) part of a layer
using powerful painting and selection tools. The
more you work on combining multiple images,
the more you'll use masks.
The mask is the black-and-white area
attached to the layer thumbnail. It
contains all the transparency informa-
tion that the layer needs to isolate the
bird from the background.
In this chapter, you'll revisit several techniques
that you learned in Chapter 5, “Selection Tools
and Techniques,” but here you'll convert them
into Layer Masks.
Masks generally start as a selection, which is then
attached to a layer. The mask can be refined by
adding to it with black or subtracting from it with
white. Learning to create and modify masks is an
important skill that becomes significantly easier
with a little practice.
