Photoshop Masking Tutorial

Published on November 1, 2013
Categories: Post Production, Shutter Magazine
From the Shutter Magazine archives

Remember that time you worked on that one image in PhotoShop for hours and hours, eventually erased too much, and then went as far back as your history would allow, and you had to start all over again because you just couldn’t go back far enough, exceeding the limits of the Eraser tool? Oh, it hasn’t happened yet? Well, it will! The Eraser can ruin your image by destroying pixels without allowing you to save your changes and fix them later. A layer mask offers a nondestructive option.

HOW IT WORKS

Think of a layer mask as a potential window to the layer below it. To add a layer mask to your background layer, you make
a copy or convert the background layer to a smart object by right-clicking over it and choosing Convert to Smart Object. You’ll notice an icon at the bottom of your layers panel that looks like a square with a white circle in it. Click that icon to add a mask. The mask appears white, but does not hide the layer it’s on.

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Photoshop Masking Tutorial

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Understanding Rembrandt Lighting

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