• Website Home
  • About
  • Services
  • Portfolio
    • Recent
    • Archives
  • Shop
    • Catalog
    • Order

ASK Design Blog

Designer | Artist | Teacher

  •  
    • Blog Home
    • Web Design
    • Graphic Design
    • Art
      • Licensed Art
    • Links
    • Calendar
    • Contact
      • Privacy Policy
      • Cookie Policy

    Two Great Ways to Create Masks in Photoshop

    December 27, 2017 by ProfK 1 Comment

    portil1102rt-mask-768Masks are powerful tools for manipulating images. Just as Halloween masks hide and protect areas of the face, Photoshop masks hide and protect areas of an image. You use masks to isolate the parts that you want to change.

    For instance, let’s say you are designing a magazine cover and do a photo shoot of a musician at the beach. When you get back to your studio, the client decides that the beach is too complex and he/she prefers a simpler backdrop…. Yikes! Instead of doing another photo shoot (which can be very costly), you can mask out the beach background and insert another image, color, and/or texture in its place.

    There are a couple of key benefit of masks:
    (1) They are non-destructive. Erasing will permanently delete the pixels, whereas masking will merely hide them. You can easily reveal the pixels by editing the mask.

    (2) They provide a quick way to select portions of an image. The mask shape is saved in a channel for easy retrieval.

    My Two Fave Ways to Make a Mask

    1 – Quick Selection, Magic Wand, and Lasso Tools

    For simple shapes with relatively uniform color and texture, use a combination of the Quick Selection, Magic Wand, and Lasso tools.

    • Begin with the Quick Selection tool and these settings:
      32 px brush size, 100% hardness, 25% spacing
    • Click on an area to begin a new selection. The tool should automatically change to “Add to Selection” mode. If not, select this mode manually.
    • Continue clicking and dragging on the area to add to the selection.
    • If the tool selects sections beyond the area you want, decrease the size of the tool.
    • If the tool size becomes very small and your selection still extends beyond the area you want, it’s time to switch to the Magic Wand tool. Try these settings:
      “Add to Selection” mode, 3 by 3 Average
    • When the selection is close to perfect, you may need to switch to the Lasso tool to add the stray pixels to the overall selection. Make sure you are still in “Add to Selection” mode.
    • Photoshop will mask what has NOT been selected. When finished selecting everything, decide whether your selection is what will be masked (hidden). If it’s the non-selected areas that need to be masked, you can INVERSE the selection: Select > Inverse.
    • At the bottom of the Layer’s panel, click on the “Add a Mask” button.
    Clean up the Mask
    • In the Layers panel, click on the Layer Mask thumbnail.
    • Select the Eraser tool. Even though you’ll be using the eraser tool, you won’t actually be deleting anything, you’ll be adding to the mask.
    • Make sure the foreground color is White.
      Remember: white adds to the mask, black subtracts from the mask.
    • Zoom in on the areas that need cleaning up. “Erase” the stray pixels (add to the mask). If you need to reveal something, switch the foreground color to Black (subtract from the mask).
    • While still on the Layer Mask thumbnail layer, you might also need to go to the Channels panel to view the mask and do a really good clean-up. Click on the mask channel to make it visible (in red). Continue with the eraser tool until done.
    • Save the file.
    select-and-mask-dropdown2 – Select and Mask Workspace

    For complex AND simple shapes, Photoshop provides an awesome suite of tools in the Select and Mask area. This is especially useful for the fine strands of hair in portraits and anything that has intricate details.

    • Click on the layer where you want to apply the mask.
    • Choose Select > Select and Mask.
      You’ll enter a task space with the image, selection tools on the left side, and properties on the right side. The default View Mode property is a semitransparent Onion Skin overlay that covers the entire image for now. This overlay indicates the masked areas.
    • Explore the other View Modes. I often find it easier to work in the Overlay (red) mode.
    • Choose the Quick Selection tool on the left side and start with these settings:
      15 px brush size, 100% hardness.
    • Click on the area you want to reveal. Each subsequent click and drag adds to the selection and essentially peels away the mask.
    • Increase/decrease the brush size and add to/subtract from the mask as needed.
    • As with Method #1, at some point the Quick Selection tool may begin to select pixels that you don’t want. So, switch to the Brush Tool, zoom into an area, and resume adding to the selection.
    select-and-mask-propertiesv3-768Refining the mask
    • Switch to the Refine Edge Brush tool, with these settings:
      20 px brush size, 100% hardness.
    • Change to Black & White view mode to see some imperfections that you can fix.
    • Change back to the Overlay mode and Zoom in at high magnifications to inspect hair in portraits and other edges.
    • Drag the Refine Edge Brush tool where the mask needs to be adjusted.
    • Increase/decrease the brush size as needed. Smaller brush sizes will be good for finer details.
    • Continue adding or subtracting to the mask until it looks fabulous!
    • The Global Refinements section will fine-tune the mask’s edges. Try these settings:
      5 – Smooth Slider
      20% – Contrast
      -15% – Shift Edges
    • When finished, go to the Output Settings at the bottom of the Properties panel on the right side. Select Decontaminate Colors.
    • In the Output To menu, choose New Layer with Layer Mask.
    • You can continue to edit the mask if necessary. In the Layers panel, be sure you click on the Layer Mask thumbnail. Then, re-enter the Select and Mask workspace in one of these ways:
      – Double-click on the Layer Mask thumbnail
      – Choose Select > Select and Mask
      – Properties panel > Select and Mask
    • Save the file!

     

    Video Tutorial

    If you prefer, you can watch my video tutorial that shows you how to create masks in Photoshop using these 2 techniques:
    VIEW VIDEO!

    What Are Your Fave Masking Methods?

    There are probably a gazilliion ways to create masks in Photoshop. Do you have a favorite method? Tell us what it is! Please share!

    Related Posts

    How to Create Masks in Illustrator
    Changing Image Opacity in Photoshop
    How to Scan within Photoshop
    How to Resize an Image in Photoshop
    How to Prepare Images for the Web

    Filed Under: Graphic Design, Software Tips Tagged With: lasso tool, magic wand, masking out background, masks, non-destructive editing, Photoshop, quick selection tool, select and mask workspace

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. clippingpathlab says

      July 23, 2022 at 7:02 am

      Love your Photoshop tools

    Leave a Reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    Primary Sidebar

    Affiliate Disclosure

    This website contains affiliate links, which means I may get a small commission (at no cost to you) if you use these links to make a purchase.

    Subscribe to Mailing List

    Sign up to get periodic updates on Anne's design and art adventures, and receive useful info. via her blog.
    * = required field

    We never share our email list with anyone.

    Looking for Something on this Site?

    Search the Web

    New Book Published!

    Kornegger book: Inside the Rainbow

    Art and design for book cover and interior

    Inside the Rainbow: Soul Connection in Nature, by Peggy Kornegger

    BUY THE BOOK!

    Peggy and I have completed our 3rd book together! This one is about soul connection in nature. Peggy is the writer, I'm the designer and artist. I think it's pretty darn special and hope you agree 🙂. Printed book and eBook are both available on Amazon.

     
    kornegger loseyourmind front cover
    Several of my paintings are in this book (including the cover)
    BUY THE BOOK!
     
    Check out my blog post about designing books: Self-Publishing Adventures

    Amazon Affiliate

    As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

    Photo, Video & Design Software

    Affiliate Partners

    We receive compensation when you purchase a service or product via the links on this blog.

    Web Hosting

    WP Engine
     
    Bluehost Website Hosting

    Testimonials

    I received the notecards on Friday and it was on my to do list today to email you my deep appreciation for them. They are amazing and I am so glad to have them to share. I am sure I will order more in the future. You are such a gifted artist and I thank you for sharing in a way others can use the art.

    — Shari Spokes

    Your new pastel "Lettuce Lake” is really beautiful. Very, very nice.

    — Tony from Belmont, MA

    My dear sweet sister. I can’t tell you how much I love your pictures. I so much wanted something and was so sorry that I couldn’t pick something out at your sale. On the other hand, I so much wanted something that you had chosen for me. Its been on my mind and suddenly, your beautiful pictures arrived. They are beyond beautiful and I cried when I saw them. Sending you love and my bestness.

    — Marti from Reno, NV

    Copyright

    © 2000-2023 Anne S. Katzeff. All rights reserved. Unless noted, all artwork and text are copyrighted by the artist. Images may not be reproduced, manipulated, or used in any way without Anne’s written permission.

    Categories

    Graphic Design

    • AIGA
    • Design Is History
    • Janice Moore
    • Mass. Contractors

    Web Design

    • A List Apart
    • Adobe Color Tools (formerly Kuler)
    • AWWWards
    • Smashing Magazine
    • underthesite
    • www schools

    Tech-Computer

    • Adobe TV
    • Orramac
    • Teknoziz

    Comments

    In an effort to reduce spam, comments are restricted. Please email Anne if you have a comment or question that you are unable to post. Thanks for understanding.


    Archives

    Typography

    • 1001fonts
    • Adobe Type
    • Adobe Web Type
    • Bitstream
    • Dafont.com
    • Emigre
    • Font converter (free)
    • Font Spring
    • Font Squirrel
    • Google Fonts
    • I Love Typography
    • identifont
    • Typeinspire
    • Typewolf
    • Typoretum

    Photography

    • Creative Commons

    Footer

    Subscribe to Mailing List

    Sign up to get periodic updates on Anne's design and art adventures, and receive useful info. via her blog.
    * = required field

    We never share our email list with anyone.

    Contact

    Website
    Email

    Subscribe to RSS Feed

  •  ASK Design Blog
  • Connect and Share

  •  
  • Legal

    Privacy Policy
    Cookie Policy

    Copyright © 2023 · Built on the WordPress Genesis Framework · Customization and design by ASK Design