hi there and welcome to this quick tip how to use layer masks in Photoshop Photoshop masks are overlays that can be added to a layer to control what to hide and what to show on that specific layer these masks are non-destructive layers, so they provide more flexibility when working with images as they don't permanently delete information in an image, you can use them for hiding parts of an image cutting out objects, andadjusting specific parts of a photographin combination with adjustment layers so let's take a look for this tutorial you will need two images one with an isolated background, and another one as a background and you can find these two images on the link provided below I will open the sporty warming image in Photoshop and let's head over to the layers panel, we can see that the background layer is locked head down to the bottom,
and click on add layer mask and this will add a layer mask thumbnail to the right of your image you have the option to work with black white and gray own layer masks anywhere the layer mask is white it shows what's on the layer black will hide the parts of the layer, and gray will partially hide the layer so let's try hiding parts of this image head over to the toolbar and select the brush tool or B on your keyboard we need to reset the foreground, and background colors if you don't have them as black and white so press D and you can toggle between these two by pressing X right click on the document to set the size of the brush and the hardness.
and any size will do head over to the layers panel and make sure that you have the layer thumbnail selected I will press X to half black as a foreground, and start swiping over the image so you can hide some parts you will notice that any stroke you make with the brush will be reflected on the layer mask thumbnail, so now to reveal the parts again press X on your keyboard so you can have white as a foreground color and swipe over the image again, and this is how you will be revealing if you would like to work on a layer mask directly press option and click on the layer mask and here you can work writing the layer mask with black white, and grey and you would follow same procedure toggling between black, and white or even gray to exit hold option.
and click again on the layer mask to delete the layer mask you can drag the thumbnail towards the trashcan on the layers panel, and on the new window you have the option to leave don't lay your mask all together, and start again or apply it before the leading in in this case you will be making a permanent change on the image, so here for example you can go back and if we press the lead then you will be deleting the whole layer mask without applying it, so let's close this file and let's open the concrete wall file, so I can show you how to use layer masks with the selection tool and let's drop the sporty woman image again and.
let's resize it so it can cover the whole document head over to the layers panel, and make sure that you have the support of young women image selected, and click on the add layer mask button now for this part we'll be using the magic wand tool from the tool bar or W on your keyboard, and on the options bar set the sample size to point sample tolerance 32, and just make sure that you have the contiguous button selected now click on a big area of the image and this is what we would like to hide, so you can see that it selected everything but the subject, so we will be deleting the background now make sure that you have to lay your mask thumbnail selected and press command I to invert the selection from white to black, and press command D to deselect well this isn't perfect it helps a lot because using the brush tool to mask the entire image will take a really long time, and instead we can use the brush tool to just work on the details so here we can just select the brush tool to set the size to a size that you like.
and make sure that you're using white as a foreground color, and start swiping off the areas that we want to perfect shortcuts become really useful here especially if you want to toggle between the foreground, and background colour by pressing x you can use the one tool to further perfect like here the hair, and you can press the backslash button if you want to see an overlay of the layer mask thumbnail so now we have the image cleaned up, and let's say that you want to change the color of the t-shirt so head over to the layers panel select create a new fill or adjustment layer,
and click on hue/saturation on the properties panel change the hue to any color that you would like the t-shirt to be close the panel, and now make sure that you're selecting the layer mask thumbnail and press command I to invert it now select the brush tool from the tool bar, and using white as a foreground paint over the t-shirt to reveal the color, and press X to toggle between the two swatches so you can correct some of the parts if you make a mistake, and press the backslash button if you want to see an overlay of the layer mask and these are the basics of layer mask you can use them these three different ways to edit photographs or composed images without destroying the originals if you want to get started creating your own Photoshop effects or actions this is a handy tool as well from all of us at enviro.
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