ptg 166 Chapter 9 Using Quick Masks With your document in Quick Mask mode, you can paint a mask onto the parts of your image that need protection, and reshape (add to or remove areas from) the mask with the Brush or Pencil tool. If you create a selection rst, the mask will cover just the unselected areas. By default, the mask is semitrans- parent red, as in a traditional rubylith. e Quick Mask itself can’t be saved, but when you put your document back into Standard (non-Quick Mask) mode, the mask will turn into a selection automati- cally, at which point it can either be saved as an alpha channel or turned into a layer mask. To reshape a selection using a Quick Mask: 1. Select an area of a layer. A 2. Click the Edit in Quick Mask Mode button at the bottom of the Tools panel, or press Q. A mask should cover the unselected areas of the image. B (If it doesn’t, double-click the same button, click Color Indicates: Masked Areas, then click OK.) 3. Choose the Brush tool (B or Shift-B). 4. On the Options bar, click the Brush Preset picker arrowhead, then click a Hard Round brush; choose Mode: Normal, and set the Opacity and Flow to 100%. 5. Zoom in on the mask area to be reshaped, then do any of the following: Apply strokes with black as the Fore ground color to enlarge the masked (protected) area. Press X to swap the Foreground and Background colors (make the Foreground color white), then apply strokes in the document to enlarge the unmasked area. C ➤ To create a partial mask, lower the brush opacity via the Options bar before apply- ing strokes. When you edit pixels within the selection, that area will be only partially aected by your edits. 6. To restore the normal document mode, click the Edit in Standard Mode button on the Tools panel or press Q. e unmasked areas turn into a selection. 7. Optional: To preserve the selection, save it as an alpha channel (see page 160) or as a layer mask (see page 168). A An area of a layer is selected. B e u n s e l e c t e d a r e a i s c o v e r e d w i t h a r e d Q u i c k M a s k . C With our document in Quick Mask mode , we’re unmask- ing the helmet by applying strokes with the Brush tool. ptg Selections & Masks 167 I n t h e s e s t e p s , y o u ’ l l p a i n t t h e m a s k d i r e c t l y i n a d o c - ument without creating a selection rst. When you put the document back into Standard mode, the mask will turn into a selection. You can use this tech- nique to select areas for retouching, such as the eyes or teeth in a portrait photo (see page 274). To paint a Quick Mask in a document: 1. Choose the Brush tool, and choose tool options as described in step 4 on the preceding page. 2. Double-click the Edit in Quick Mask Mode button on the Tools panel. 3. Click Color Indicates: Selected Areas, then click OK. 4. Zoom in, then with black as the Foreground color, apply strokes to create a mask. A If you need to remove any areas of the mask, press X to switch the Foreground color to white. ➤ You can start by painting with a medium- sized brush, then rene the mask with a smaller brush (press [ to shrink the brush). 5. Press Q to put the document back into Standard mode. B e mask turns into a selection. ➤ To store the selection as a mask on the current layer, C see the next page. Or to save it as an alpha channel, see page 160. Via the Quick Mask Options dialog, you can control whether a mask covers the protected or unprotected areas of an image, and also change its color and opacity. To choose Quick Mask options: 1. Double-click the Edit in Quick Mask Mode button on the Tools panel. e Quick Mask Options dialog opens. 2. Do any of the following: Click Color Indicates: Masked Areas or Selected Areas. Click the Color swatch, then choose a new color for the Quick Mask. Change the Opacity of the mask color. 3. Click OK. C e s e l e c t i o n t h a t i s s h o w n i n t h e p r e c e d i n g g u r e i s b e i n g stored in this document as a layer mask. A In this image, a Quick Mask is being painted on the teeth. B When we put the image back into Standard mode, the mask turned into a selection. Note: To soften the edges of the selection slightly before applying image edits, we could use the Feather slider in the Rene Edge dialog. ptg 168 Chapter 9 Creating layer masks A layer mask is an editable (and removable) 8-bit grayscale channel that hides all or some of the pixels on a layer. White areas in a layer mask permit pixels to be seen, black areas hide pixels, and gray areas hide pixels partially. With the layer mask thumbnail selected, you can edit or deacti- vate the mask, or move or copy it to other layers. At any time, you can either apply the mask to make its eect permanent or discard it to undo its eect. e Masks panel provides access to most of the masking controls in Photoshop. To create a layer mask: 1. Optional: Create a selection, which is to become a shape in the mask. 2. On the Layers panel, click a layer or layer group. A 3. To create a white mask in which all the layer pixels are visible or, if you created a selection, to reveal the layer contents only within the selection area, do one of the following: Display the Masks panel, then click the Add Pixel Mask button at the top of the panel. B–D At the bottom of the Layers panel, click the Add Layer Mask button. Click Refine Edge on the Options bar, and use the dialog to make any desired renements to the edge of the selection (see page 161). From the Output To menu, choose Layer Mask, ★ then click OK. A mask thumbnail appears on the Layers panel. ➤ To swap the black and white areas in a selected mask and thereby reverse its eect, click Invert on the Masks panel. ➤ To create a black mask in which all the layer pixels are hidden or in which just the pixels within the selection are hidden, Alt-click/Option-click either the Add Pixel Mask button on the Masks panel or the Add Layer Mask button on the Layers panel. D e c e n t e r o f t h e t i l e l a y e r i s h i d d e n by the arch-shaped layer mask. A e o r i g i n a l i m a g e c o n t a i n s a p h o t o o f a n a r c h w a y on the Background below a photo of tile on a layer. We selected the archway, then clicked the tile layer. C Finally, to blend the mosaic layer with the stone wall, on the Layers panel, we chose Pin Light blending mode and lowered the layer opacity. B We clicked the Add Pixel Mask button on the Masks panel to add a layer mask to the tile layer, then clicked Invert to swap the black and white areas in the mask. ptg Selections & Masks 169 Editing layer masks In these instructions, you’ll edit a layer mask by applying strokes with the Brush tool. In the instruc- tions on the next two pages, you’ll edit a mask by using controls on the Masks panel. ese are very important skills to learn. To reshape a layer mask: 1. Choose the Brush tool (B or Shift-B). 2. On the Options bar, click a brush on the Brush Preset picker, choose Mode: Normal, and choose an Opacity of 100% to hide layer pixels fully or a lower opacity to hide them partially. 3. Do either of the following: To display the mask as a colored overlay on top of the image, Alt-Shift-click/Option-Shift-click the layer mask thumbnail on the Layers panel. A–B To display the mask in black and white with the image hidden, Alt-click/Option-click the layer mask thumbnail on the Layers panel. 4. Do either or both of the following: Paint with white as the Foreground color to reduce the mask and reveal pixels on the layer. C Paint with black as the Foreground color to enlarge the mask and hide pixels on the layer. D ➤ You can change brush settings, such as the size or hardness, between strokes. Right-click in the image to display a temporary brush preset picker. 5. When you’re done editing the layer mask, click the layer thumbnail to restore the normal display. If it’s hard to see the overlay because it’s too similar to the image color, you can change the overlay color or opacity. To choose layer mask display options: 1. Double-click a layer mask thumbnail on the Layers panel (or click the mask thumbnail, then choose Mask Options from the Masks panel menu). 2. In the Layer Mask Display Options dialog, do either or both of the following: E Click the Color square, choose a dierent overlay color from the Color Picker, then click OK. Change the Opacity percentage. 3. Click OK. 4. To view the change in the document, Alt-Shift- click/Option-Shift-click the layer mask thumbnail. C Only the mask is displayed in the document window. We’re eliminating areas from it by painting with white. D We’re enlarging the mask by painting with black chosen as the Foreground color. B e m a s k i s r e s h a p e d . A We’re painting out (remov- ing) areas of the mask, which is displayed as a red overlay on top of the image. E By using the Layer Mask Display Options dialog, you can change the Color and/or Opacity of the mask overlay. ptg 170 Chapter 9 e Density control on the Masks panel aects the opacity of the overall mask, whereas the Feather control aects the opacity of its edge. Both of these useful controls are nondestructive, meaning they don’t alter the original mask and can be readjusted at any time. To adjust the density or feather value of a layer mask: 1. Click a layer that contains a layer mask, and display the Masks panel. A 2. Click the Select Pixel Mask button, then do either or both of the following: Reduce the Density value to lighten the black part of the mask and partially reveal layer pixels. B–C e lower the density, the more transparent the mask. Increase the Feather value to soften the edge of the mask, for a more gradual transition between the masked and unmasked areas ( A , next page). To refine the edges of a layer mask: 1. Click a layer that contains a layer mask, and dis- play the Masks panel. Zoom to around 100%. 2. Click Mask Edge; the Rene Mask dialog opens. 3. Use the Rene Mask controls to adjust the soft- ness or sharpness of the edge of the mask, as you would for a selection in the Rene Edge dialog (see page 161). We’ve found the following set- tings to be helpful for cleaning up the edge of a mask: a low Radius value (1–2), a low Contrast value (5–7), and a slightly negative Contract/ Expand value to shrink the mask inward (to hide more background pixels). ➤ We recommend keeping the Feather slider in the Rene Mask dialog at 0 because it’s destructive, and using the nondestructive Feather slider on the Masks panel instead. To swap the black and white areas in a layer mask: Do either of the following: Click a layer that contains a layer mask, display the Masks panel, then click the Invert button. Click a layer mask thumbnail on the Layers panel, then press Ctrl-I/Cmd-I. ➤ Repeat either method above to restore the original state of the mask. B A mask is hiding all but the two owers on an image layer, which is stacked above a solid white Background. C We reduced the Density of the mask to 77%, to allow it to partially reveal the surrounding layer pixels. A By looking at the upper left area of the Masks panel, we know that a Pixel Mask is selected. ptg Selections & Masks 171 USING THE MASKS PANEL TO DRAW ATTENTION TO PART OF AN IMAGE B e o r i g i n a l h a r d - e d g e d m a s k i s h i d i n g e v e r y t h i n g b u t t h e c a r o n a n image layer, which is stacked above a solid white Background. C We reduced the Density value and increased the Feather value for the layer mask to make the transition between the masked and unmasked areas more gradual. e car is still the star of the show, but the soft imagery around it provides a complementary setting. A We increased the Feather value of the mask to 96 px, to make the transition between the masked and unmasked areas more gradual. ptg 172 Chapter 9 Working with layer masks By default, a layer and its layer mask are linked and, when moved, travel as a unit. If you want to move either component separately, you have to unlink them rst. To move the layer content or mask independently: 1. On the Layers panel, click the Link icon between the layer and layer mask thumb- nails. A–B e icon disappears. 2. Click either the layer thumbnail or the layer mask thumbnail, depending on which one you want to move. 3. Choose the Move tool (or hold down V to spring-load the tool), then drag in the docu- ment window. C 4. Click between the layer and layer mask thumbnails to make the link icon reappear. To duplicate a layer mask or move it to another layer: Do either of the following: To move a mask, drag its thumbnail to another layer (you can’t move it to the Background). To duplicate a mask, Alt-drag/Option-drag its thumbnail to another layer. When you load a mask as a selection, it displays in the document as a marquee of “marching ants.” To load a mask as a selection: 1. Do either of the following: On the Layers panel, Ctrl-click/Cmd-click a layer mask thumbnail. On the Layers panel, click a layer mask thumb- nail, then on the Masks panel, click the Load Selection from Mask button. A A layer mask is hiding the center of the tile layer and revealing part of the underlying Background image. C With the Move tool, we dragged the mask in the document window to reveal a dierent part of the Background. (If you want to move the layer imagery instead, click the layer thumbnail before dragging.) B We clicked the Link icon to disengage the layer image from the mask, and also clicked the layer mask thumbnail. ptg Selections & Masks 173 To deactivate a layer mask temporarily: Do either of the following: On the Layers panel, Shift-click the layer mask thumbnail A (the thumbnail won’t become selected). On the Layers panel, click a layer mask thumb- nail, then at the bottom of the Masks panel, click the Disable/Enable Mask button. B A red X appears over the thumbnail on both the Layers and Masks panels, and the entire layer is now visible. To reactivate the mask at any time, repeat either method above. One disadvantage of using layer masks is that they occupy some storage space (albeit a small amount), so when you’re done using them, consider apply- ing those whose eects you’re pleased with to make them permanent and deleting those you don’t need. When you apply or delete a mask, its thumbnail disappears from the Layers panel. Note: Before applying or deleting any masks — a permanent change — use the File > Save As com- mand to copy the le, and preserve the original le that contains the layer masks for future editing. To apply or delete a layer mask: Do either of the following: On the Layers panel, click a layer mask thumb- nail, then on the Masks panel, click the Apply Mask button to apply the mask or the Delete Mask button to delete it. On the Layers panel, right-click a layer mask thumbnail and choose Apply Layer Mask or Delete Layer Mask. A To deactivate or activate a layer mask via the Layers panel, Shift-click the layer mask thumbnail. A red X appears in the thumbnail. B To deactivate or activate a layer mask via the Masks panel, click the layer mask thumbnail on the Layers panel, then click the Disable/Enable Mask button on the Masks panel. SOME MASK TOPICS IN OTHER CHAPTERS ➤ “Editing the adjustment layer mask” on page 202 ➤ “Fading the edge of a layer via a gradient in a layer mask” on pages 244–246 ➤ “Working with the Smart Filter mask” on page 322 ➤ “To use type shapes as a layer mask” on page 349 . area. C ➤ To create a partial mask, lower the brush opacity via the Options bar before apply- ing strokes. When you edit pixels within the selection, that area will be only partially aected. then do either or both of the following: Reduce the Density value to lighten the black part of the mask and partially reveal layer pixels. B–C e lower the density, the more transparent the. the tile layer and revealing part of the underlying Background image. C With the Move tool, we dragged the mask in the document window to reveal a dierent part of the Background. (If you