Adobe Photoshop CS4 for Photographers Tutorials
Layers & Masks / Using the Masks Panel
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Subtitles of the Movie (Adobe Photoshop CS4 for Photographers / Layers & Masks / Using the Masks Panel)
Photoshop CS4 added the Masks Panel. It's now possible to go back and forth between creating and refining a Mask and setting your adjustments. In earlier versions of Photoshop you had to set the Adjustment Sliders and then close the adjustment and work on the Mask. It was what was technically called a Modal Adjustment, whereas now it's non-modal. In practical terms, that means it's more fluid to go back and forth. So if you're working on your Layer Mask and you want to tweak the adjustment itself no problem. In addition, the Masks Panel offers a lot of controls in one convenient location that previously were scattered about the interface. Let's see this in action on this image. Let's say that I want to draw attention to the flowers by increasing their Saturation and making them just a bit pinker. I'll begin by choosing a Hue-Saturation Adjustment Layer, but as I increase the Saturation and adjust the color, I'm adjusting it throughout the entire image and I really only want to work on the flowers. So, I'm going to click on the Masks Panel and choose the Color Range button. That accesses the Color Range Tool. With the Eyedropper selected I'm going to click on the flowers, make sure I choose a reasonable spot, then I'll increase the fuzziness a little bit, choose the Add To Eyedropper, just to make sure I'm getting all the flowers right there. I didn't want to go to far like I just did, but I can decrease the fuzziness and when I'm happy click OK. Photoshop will process for just a minute, now I can go back to my adjustments and when I increase the Saturation dramatically and modify the hue you can see that only the flowers are changing and that's making them stand out from the rest of the image. When you use the Color Range Tool on the Masks Panel, if you've not yet made a Layer Mask or used the selection for the Layer it accesses the entire image. However, if you already had a Layer Mask started, whether by painting or using a selection, the Color Range command here will only select the areas that are within the area that's already selected, so it's a way of further limiting that selection. And even though the Color Range dialog might show the entire image, the actual changes that you'll see will only be within the areas of the image that had previously been selected. In this case I hadn't made a selection initially so Color Range accessed the entire picture. There's also an Invert button that lets you invert the Layer Mask. Notice that the Layer Mask is now primarily white and just the flowers are blacked out so that the effect applies to the opposite part of the image. In some cases it will be easier for you to initially create the Mask being the opposite of what you'd want. The Density Slider controls the density of the black parts of the Mask, or gray parts. As you move it to the left you decrease the effect of the black areas so that the Layer is having more effect on the entire image. As I pull the slider to the left, and I'll pull it dramatically to the left, you can see that the Saturation and Hue is changing throughout the image. This is different than adjusting the Opacity of the layer. The Opacity of the layer refers to the entire layer itself. The Density Slider on the Masks Panel is controlling how much effect the black area of the Layer Mask has. At 100 percent, the black area is protecting those areas completely, and as you slide it toward zero it's offering no protection. In essence, it's like painting with a shade of gray on your Layer Mask, just an easier way of doing that. The Feather Slider is an older adjustment that lets you feather the edges of the blacked out areas to let them blend in more readily rather than looking cut and pasted with abrupt transitions. You can zoom in using your Control Plus or Minus to see the effects, but for finer control, choose the Mask Edge button. This brings up the Refine Mask dialog, which is identical to the Refine Edges dialog except for the name at the top. Select the view that you prefer and then adjust the Sliders to get the effect that you want. For more details about using these Sliders see the movie on Refine Edges. The new changes in the Masks Panel may not sound too exciting, but when you're actually working I think you'll find that they're good time savers and increase your efficiency.
Tutorial Information
| Course: | Adobe Photoshop CS4 for Photographers |
| Author: | Ellen Anon |
| SKU: | 34036 |
| ISBN: | 1-935320-74-2 |
| Release Date: | 2009-09-23 |
| Duration: | 8.5 hrs / 112 lessons |
| Work Files: |
Yes |
| Captions: | No |
| Compatibility: |
Vista/XP/2000, OS X, Linux QuickTime 7, Flash 8 |
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