Datasheet

■ Working with Layer Masks 11
Figure 1.24 The apple in its new home
Granted, the final image is a bit “far out,” but the extraction itself worked like a
charm. The Path tool does take a bit of practice, but there is nothing like it for giving you
crisp, clear edges for your extracted objects.
Working with Layer Masks
As you delve into all the nifty things Photoshop allows you to do to your images, you may
have already played a bit with layer masks. Layer masks, at their most basic, are simple bit-
maps attached to a layer. The black in the bitmap, or mask, hides the pixels of the standard
layer, and the white reveals those pixels.
As mentioned in the previous section, Photoshop CS4 has added a Masks panel that
allows you to control density, feather, color range, and other mask features. We will be
looking at these features throughout the book.
First, let’s look at some possible uses of masks. What benefit do you see from being
able to hide portions of a layer? Here’s one practical application using two layers with the
same pixel information: you could correct the top layer or do some fancy special effect to it
and then mask away portions of the layer so the correction or effect seems to occur only on
certain portions of the image. Layer masks are also excellent for merging photos, either
gradually or starkly, so collages are a breeze. Masks even go so far as to allow a savvy right-
brainer to turn any photograph into a seamless pattern or a floor tile.
Let me demonstrate what I’m talking about.
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