Layer Masks
page one
[A lot of Elements books are using the masking techniques
from this tutorial—which is fine. However, I think it’s pretty
lame to imply that the book’s author invented the method. Writers,
if you use my material, I would appreciate a credit.]
Technique posted November 15, 2002
Elements 2 users, you can’t use the shortcut key method that worked
in Elements 1, but you can easily add a layer mask by pressing and holding
the Alt key as you apply one of the frame effects.
Go to the Effects
Browser, and in the Frames group, choose the Ripple Frame (or the
Spatter, or Strokes frame), then press and hold the Alt key as you click
the Apply button. Keep pressing the Alt key until the effect has been
completed. If you are asked whether you want to Flatten All Layers? or
Discard Hidden Layers? click OK to both. Otherwise the effect will not
be applied.
You will now see a layer in the Layers
palette with a layer mask. In the illustration below, the cursor is
pointing to the mask.
A duplicate of your background layer will have been generated (the middle
layer, shown above) and visibility will be turned off for the background
layer. Delete the middle duplicate layer, and turn visibility back on
for the background layer, if you wish.
The mask will have black content from the
frame effect. Get rid of this by clicking on the mask thumbnail to get
into mask edit mode. Confirm that you are in mask edit mode by looking
at the icon to the right of the layer’s eyeball icon. When in image edit
mode, you will see the paintbrush icon.
When in mask edit mode, you will see the mask icon to the right of they
eyeball icon.
Once you have clicked on the mask thumbnail and are sure you are in mask
edit mode, press the D key on your keyboard to make sure you have the
default mask edit colors (white/fore, black/back—the reverse of
the image edit defaults). Then press Alt-backspace to fill the mask with
white.
If you wanted to mask a layer other than
your background layer, or if you do not want to flatten your document,
there are a number of ways to do it, but the simplest is to duplicate
the layer that you wish to mask to a new document, add the mask, and then
drag the layer back onto the original file. [Note that you will lose transparency
on the masked layer. If that’s a problem, see the techniques in the next
part of this tutorial.]
Do this by right-clicking on the layer,
and choosing Duplicate Layer. In the Duplicate Layer dialog, for Destination
Document, choose New. Apply the steps described above to the new single-layer
document, then drag the masked layer back onto the original file. Be sure
to press the Shift key as you drop the dragged layer so it will pin-register
onto the original file.
Technique posted April 2, 2002 (for Elements
1)
Here it is, about one year since I first posted the original (much longer)
layer mask method for Elements 1, and I’ve discovered a way to add
a layer mask to any layer in Elements 1 that takes about five seconds.
Sigh. Anyway, here is how it’s done:
Press the following keys (in the order given with no other clicking in
between!).
Ctrl-A
Ctrl-C
Ctrl-Shift-V
Ctrl-J
For those of you who hate keyboard shortcuts, the menu steps are:
Select > All
Edit > Copy
Edit > Paste Into
Layer > New > Layer via Copy
After you’ve done those steps, you’ll
have your mask, but you need to link the mask to the image. To do this,
click between the image thumbnail and the mask thumbnail on the layer.
After you’ve clicked there, you’ll see the little chain icon
that tells you the mask is now linked to the image.
And that’s all there is to it. If you already know how masks work
and how to edit them, you’re all done. If you don’t know how
they work, read through the rest of this tutorial for some tips.
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Since I know that I am going to need to mask the apple, and I also know that I won’t want to flatten the document after I have dragged the apple onto the snake image, I will add my layer mask before I bring the apple onto the snake.
Do this by opening the base (background) image, in this case the snake picture. Use the steps described above to generate a masked layer. Then delete all image content from that masked layer by clicking on the masked layer in the Layers palette, choosing Select > All and then pressing the Delete key.
Leave the selection active. Click on the apple’s file to make it the active window. I will have already carefully selected the apple, using the methods described in the Simulating Alpha Channels tutorial. Click on the apple’s layer in the Layers palette. Choose Select > All followed by Edit > Copy.
Click on the snake document to make it the active window. Click on the (empty) masked layer to select it in the Layers palette, if it is not still selected. Assuming you still have your selection active (if not choose Select > All), choose Edit > Paste Into. Be sure and use the Paste Into command, and not Paste.
I can now use the layer mask on the apple’s layer to hide those parts of the apple that are supposed to be behind the snake.
You may be wondering why I didn’t create this mask on the apple image, before moving it onto the snake. Then you wouldn’t even have to bother with extracting it from its original background.
I prefer to have the edges that will be showing, i.e. the top of the apple, cut rather than masked. I think you can do a much better job of blending the edges if you don’t have to deal with the old background.
So, why not duplicate the apple layer into a new document (via the Duplicate Layer dialog box) from the image above, and add the layer mask to it there? The first step of the frame effects is to flatten the image. Flattening removes transparency. You then have to again extract the apple from the background. Easy enough with the Magic Wand, right? Maybe, but more likely than not, you’ll have problems with a white halo being left behind as shown below (greatly magnified).
To find out how to edit your mask, go on to the next page.
continue on page two
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Copyright © 2004 by Jay Arraich.
All rights reserved.
All photographs copyright ©2004 by Jay Arraich
jay@arraich.com
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