Simple Masking

Masking at first may seem confusing but once you get the basics it is a powerful, fun and easy to use tool for creating terrific graphic effects. The samples above were created with a simple gradient mask. You can click on each of the three images to see a larger view. They will each open in a new window.

The first thing you want to do is find two images. One that you want as the main focus and a background image. My main focus image is the angels.

 

Because this is such an easy and simple effect I picked three background images.

 

After you've chosen the images you want to work with you need to make sure the images are the same size. The only background image that was the same size as my focus image was the waterfall image. The other two images I had to adjust.

 

If you find your background image is not the same size as your focus image you can adjust the canvas size. I did this on the castle and lighthouse background images. Since the mask will mask out the top of the image for the gradient we will use in this tutorial I went to Image>Canvas Size and added to the top of the image. I then used the clone brush and pulled the sky in both images up to cover the part of the canvas that was added at the top of the images. Now my images are all the same size.

     

Select your background image and Edit>Copy. Then select your focus image and Edit>Paste>Paste As New Layer.

 

Your background layer is now active and on top of your focus image.

 

Go to Masks>Show All and then Masks>Edit. You won't see much happen here. If you watch the layer palette the layer name will change from 1 to 2 but that's about it.

 

Select the Paint Bucket tool and set your foreground color to white and your background color to black. Set your gradient to a linear gradient from top to bottom.

 

Click on your image with the Paint Bucket tool. You will now see the mask effect.

 

Go to Layers>Merge All and save your image. It is now finished.

The only secret to masks is that black and white are the colors that create the masked effect. Black hides and white shows detail. In the image above you can see that most of the top of the background image has been hidden. That is because the black from the gradient mask has covered it. As the gradient moves to white more of the background image shows.

This is only one example of masking. There are many other ways to create terrific effects with masking.

Copyright Vikki Olds, All Rights Reserved