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< TUTORIALS & HELP ~ Photoshop: Masking (cutting stuff out) |
| Jonas M. Rogne |
 Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 9:48 pm |
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Joined: 27 May 2007
Posts: 176
Location: Norway
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How to use masks in Photoshop
or; how to cut out stuff.
(sorry about the load time - tons of images)
This tutorial will show three different masking options in Photoshop - starting with the easiest. If you already are comfortable with one method, you can jump to the one you need:
- Layer mask
- Vector mask
- Clipping mask
The file I will use in this tutorial can be found HERE - if you want to use it.
General tips:
- A useful thing to remember is that you want to work on as high-resolution (image size) as possible for the best results, and zoom in to 200-400% (Ctrl/cmd +/- to zoom in/out) to be able to accurately see what you are doing.
- DO NOT use the eraser tool (it will destroy/erase your image permanently).
- Avoid the magic wand like the plague.
Layer mask
- Bring your image into Photoshop (file -> open).
In your layers palette it should only show a layer named Background
- Right-click (ctrl-click if you only have one button on a mac) and choose "Duplicate layer...".
- You now have two layers. Hide the background layer. This is just so that if you damage the image you can still bring the original background layer back.
- Now, click the "create new fill or adjustment layer"-button in your layers palette and choose "Solid Color..." This will create a layer with a single colour. We will use this as our background while masking.
- Choose a colour that differs from the subject in our image. I picked a green.
Note: You can change the colour at any point by double-clicking the coloured icon on the layer.
- You now have a new color fill layer (with a white mask). If it is on top and covers your image, drag it down under the "Background copy" layer.
- Now that we have a background (the green) we can start masking our image. First, click the "Add layer mask" button in your layers palette. This will create a new white mask in our image.
- A layer mask (similar to a "matte") is actually a black and white image, where the brightness of the pixel determines the opacity of the layer.
What does that mean? Well, it means if you paint with black in the mask it will hide parts of the layer, and if you paint with white it will bring it back. Let's try.
- Select the brush tool
- Reset the colours to black & white
- Choose a hard brush, and a brush size of e.g. 40 px.
- Draw a line to see that everything is ok. A green line appears, and if we look in the layers palette we see that it's because we have a black line on our mask, making that area transparent (hidden).
- If you do not get this result, undo (step back in history palette), and make sure you have the layer mask selected by clicking it.
- Now, press 'x' to switch the foreground/background colours - so you get white. Draw on top of your line. As you can see white makes the layer visible again. That's all you need.
- Now, zoom in to 200 % by using "ctrl +" on a pc, or "apple +" on a mac.
- Now, start masking by painting with black and white.
Press 'x' to quickly switch between black/white (hide/show).
Hold down space and click-drag to pan around.
Change brush size with [ and ] or by right-clicking (40 is too big).
Go around the edges with a small brush, then use a big one to clean up the rest.
Remember that you do not need to make perfect brush strokes, if one is a bit wrong, just press x and clean up the mistake.
- When you feel happy, zoom back out (ctrl -, or apple -) to 100% and have a look.
If you did it right you should have something like this (I have zoomed out to 25%).
Look at the layers palette and make note of the black and white mask. 
- Your layer is now properly masked. Good job.
- To put it on a different background you can drag the layer into other open documents, or paste/drag/place a background picture into your document and place it below your masked layer.
- When saving, make sure you save as "Photoshop document (.psd)" to keep the layers intact. If you need to show the finished image to someone, save a small copy as JPG - but keep the original.
My final .PSD file can be found HERE(9MB) if you want to have a closer look.
You may not copy this tutorial elsewhere without my permission. Link directly back here - or e-mail me. |
Last edited by Jonas M. Rogne on Tue Sep 25, 2007 2:10 pm; edited 9 times in total
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| Jonas M. Rogne |
| Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 9:49 pm |
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Joined: 27 May 2007
Posts: 176
Location: Norway
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Vector mask
A vector mask uses a 'path' as a mask. It will really help if you have some practise with the pen tool from e.g. Illustrator.
Note: The first 6 steps are identical to the "layer mask" tutorial.
- Bring your image into Photoshop (file -> open).
In your layers palette it should only show a layer named Background
- Right-click (ctrl-click if you only have one button on a mac) and choose "Duplicate layer...".
- You now have two layers. Hide the background layer. This is just so that if you damage the image you can still bring the original background layer back.
- Now, click the "create new fill or adjustment layer"-button in your layers palette and choose "Solid Color..." This will create a layer with a single colour. We will use this as our background while masking.
- Choose a colour that differs from the subject in our image. I picked a green.
Note: You can change the colour at any point by double-clicking the coloured icon on the layer.
- You now have a new color fill layer (with a white mask). If it is on top and covers your image, drag it down under the "Background copy" layer.
- I prefer to make the path before i apply it as a mask. To do that, select the pen tool and make sure the 2nd option from the left ('path') is selected and not the first one ('shape layer').
- Zoom in to e.g. 200% (use ctrl +/- on a pc, or apple +/- on a mac)
- To make a path, click-and-drag with the pen tool. This will create an anchor point, and two direction points. The line between the anchor point and the direction point IS NOT your path, it's just showing you in what direction the path will be heading. The line you see will actualy be a tangent to the curve at the anchor point.
- Now click and drag to make your second anchor point. A curve is created (instead of a straight line) between the two points. The shape of this curve is determined by the position of the direction points. Don't worry, practice and you will get the hang of this.
RULE OF THUMB: The direction points should stretch 1/3 of the distance between the anchor points for a smooth curve. (i this image they are a bit longer)
- Now, continue to trace along the smooth edge until you git a "corner". Sometimes you might have to zoom in some more to see what you're doing.
- To create a "corner point" just click once instead of clicking and dragging. This will create an anchor point without those direction lines.
- Now continue to trace around the image, if you do something wrong you can UNDO (go back in the history palette). If you switch to another tool, you will have to "pick up" the path to continue it. You do this by clicking (or click-dragging) on the last point you made.
I will now quickly show you the main tools for working with a path:
Here are a couple of illustrations on how (not) to do it:
- Now, when you've traced around the object you must 'close' the path. You do this by clicking on the first point of your path. You have now created a path around your object. It may not be perfect, but since this is a path you can always change it later with the above tools.
This is what my final path looked like (25% zoom). It's very detailed, so you might go for something a bit more simplified.
- Take the "Path Selection Tool" and select your path (click on the path once). We will now finally turn this into a mask - and see the fruit of our hard work.
- With your top layer, and the path, still selected. Go to Layer > Vector Mask > Current Path.
This will take our current path, and apply it as a Vector Mask on the current layer.
Your image should now have a vector mask. The thin line you see around the hand in my image is the path. It is invisible (think of it as a guide). To see how it really looks simply deselect the mask (click on it once in the layers palette) or select another layer.
- You're now done and can move the hand around, place it on a new background, whatever...
A "vector mask" is a lot better then a "layer mask" when it comes to sharp outlines and smooth curves. Use it as much as you can. It can even be combined with a layer mask (yes, a layer can have two masks) to get the best of both. If you need to e.g. blur a vector mask you can turn it into a layer mask by right-clicking it in the layers palette and choose "rasterize layer mask".
My final .PSD file can be found HERE(4,5MB) if you want to have a closer look.
Quote: The more observant may notice that i forgot to cut out the "hole" in the mask between two of my fingers.  Don't worry, just make more paths, you can have them add/subtract to/from the resulting mask (or intersect). Just make sure you put them both into the mask. The boolean (add/subtract/etc) operation can be chosen on your toolbar when the path(s) are selected. |
Last edited by Jonas M. Rogne on Wed Jul 04, 2007 7:47 pm; edited 3 times in total
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| Jonas M. Rogne |
| Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 9:50 pm |
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Clipping mask
Clipping masks work the other way around. It assumes you already have a layer with transparent areas (could have been done with a vector or layer mask), and then uses that layer itself as a mask for one or more layers. If you don't understand what I mean, have a look:
This is how you do it:
- In this example I have a blank document with a text layer. It does not have to be text, it can be any type of layer. This text will be used as a clipping mask.
- Next I find a picture of a nice texture I want to apply to the text (I found this one on http://www.mayang.com/textures/ ). I then place or copy/paste it on top of my text layer.
- Now, with the top layer (the fur) selected go to Layer > Create Clipping Mask. This makes magic happen.
The quicker way of doing it is to click between the layers while holding down the Alt key (the mouse pointer will change to show you when you're doing it right)
- The text is still editable, so i changed it to something else with the type tool. Any number of layers can use the same layer as a clipping mask (you can put as many layers you want "inside" it), so with the text layer selected I make a new layer.
- The new layer was created below the fur, so I move it up one layer.
- Now I take a solid red brush and paint on the layer.
Ok, you've now seen how a clipping mask works. It's very simple.
TIP: I find it VERY useful for applying adjustment layers (e.g. levels and curves) to individual layers. |
Last edited by Jonas M. Rogne on Tue Aug 14, 2007 4:06 pm; edited 2 times in total
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www.rognemedia.no - Grafisk design / Graphic design
http://chain.deviantart.com |
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| Jonas M. Rogne |
| Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2007 6:49 pm |
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| xinxinyang |
| Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2007 9:44 pm |
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Joined: 27 May 2007
Posts: 27
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 lots of words and images! |
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| Jonas M. Rogne |
| Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2007 11:53 pm |
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| Jonas M. Rogne |
| Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 8:21 pm |
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| Jonas M. Rogne |
| Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2007 8:35 pm |
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