Frustrated tying to use a Layer Mask

[NBEast]

Help. Trying to learn about Photoshop editing. Following the Adobe tutorials and stuck for 1/2 hour on this one point.

I created 2 layers (2 photos). I added a Layer Mask to the top layer. I typed "b" to get the Brush. I expected that when I brushed, it would erase the top layer revealing the stuff I want underneath.

However; it does nothing.

I mess around, clicking the photo on the Layers palet, and now the brush just paints black onto my photo.

Anyone out there able to help?

[lkb-28]

Hello NBEast;

If you want to "erase" part of the image, then you need the "Eraser" tool [E] - not Brush...

Cheers;

Lee

[whereismykit]

Black conseals, white reveals. try hitting x and repainting

[EOS_JD]

Hello NBEast;

If you want to "erase" part of the image, then you need the "Eraser" tool [E] - not Brush...

Cheers;

Lee

NONONO DO NOT USE THE ERASER!!! Best not to erase parts of the image. THe brush tool using white/black on a layer mask is the best method which gives the most control over your image.

[EOS_JD]

Help. Trying to learn about Photoshop editing. Following the Adobe tutorials and stuck for 1/2 hour on this one point.

I created 2 layers (2 photos). I added a Layer Mask to the top layer. I typed "b" to get the Brush. I expected that when I brushed, it would erase the top layer revealing the stuff I want underneath.

However; it does nothing.

I mess around, clicking the photo on the Layers palet, and now the brush just paints black onto my photo.

Anyone out there able to help?

If the brush does nothing it's probably because you are painting white onto the layer mask.

Press D to get the background/foreground colours to their black/white default.

If the foregropund is white, press the X key to flip the background colour to the foreground (white to black).

Click the layer mask to select it and paint black into the mask which will hide the top layer.

[René Damkot]

NONONO DO NOT USE THE ERASER!!! Best not to erase parts of the image. THe brush tool using white/black on a layer mask is the best method which gives the most control over your image.

Quoted for truth...

[lkb-28]

NONONO DO NOT USE THE ERASER!!! Best not to erase parts of the image. THe brush tool using white/black on a layer mask is the best method which gives the most control over your image.

Hello JD;

WHY WHY WHY ???

Surely it depends on what the OP wants to do?

The commentary said he wanted to "erase" parts of the iamge!

If you "Brush" over the image, all you're doing is laying a different colour on top...

???Confused???

Cheers;

Lee

[René Damkot]

Key word here is Layer Mask.

[NBEast]

Hello JD;

WHY WHY WHY ???

Surely it depends on what the OP wants to do?

The commentary said he wanted to "erase" parts of the iamge!

If you "Brush" over the image, all you're doing is laying a different colour on top...

???Confused???

Cheers;

Lee
I'm really just playing trying to understand what the heck a mask does.

I'm watching the Adobe CS3 tutorials (http://www.adobe.com/designcenter/video_workshop/) following along, specifically "Aligning layers by content" by John Nack. It's showing how to use the new Auto Align features and doing a head swap.

I have a formal that sadly need head swaps or I'll be stuck using the one with the worst lighting and focus, but mainly it's high time I broke "the layers barrier" since so far I've gotten by with Lightroom and the Self Intuitive features of Photoshop.

I've had this problem before. People say "just brush in a mask and it'll reveal the underlying layer". I try making the brush paint WHITE or BLACK, but maybe I don't know how to do that.

John's fingers move Real Fast when he gets to that part "Now I grab my brush and ..." zip zing. I pause and replay slow-mo but still can't see how he did that, nor did he stop to adjust colors. Grrrr. These teachers who assume people know, lol. Lucky for POTN!

Hold the phone! I just noticed the little "Color" icon above the Layers palate. Moving it from White to Gray makes it opaic! Wow!

[lkb-28]

Key word here is Layer Mask.

Hi Rene;

THANK YOU... Sorry, I missed that. I'm one of life's cheapskates still using Elements, so "Mask'ing" is not available to me...

Cheers;

Lee

[René Damkot]

I have a formal that sadly need head swaps or I'll be stuck using the one with the worst lighting and focus,
Have a read here (http://shootsmarter.com/infocenter/sa040.html) about how to do headswaps. (well worth the log in)


Hold the phone! I just noticed the little "Color" icon above the Layers palate. Moving it from White to Gray makes it opaic! Wow!

Assuming you mean what I think you mean (drop down menu in the top of the layers palette): Nope. It changes the blending mode of the layer. Something else entirely.
Now the layer only changes the color of the underlying one...

[Roy Mathers]

Good advice has been given above about the use of the brushes in the colour mask (ie white removes, black restores) but I noticed something in the OP's post that may be signicant. He says "I mess around, clicking the photo on the Layers palet," - you don't click the photo in the layers palette, you have to make sure that the mask itself is clicked, otherwise the brushes will not have the desired effect.

[EOS_JD]

Hello JD;

WHY WHY WHY ???

Surely it depends on what the OP wants to do?

The commentary said he wanted to "erase" parts of the iamge!

If you "Brush" over the image, all you're doing is laying a different colour on top...

???Confused???

Cheers;

Lee

I see you found the answer below. Layer Masks allow you to edit an image by hiding or revealing parts of an image. It's kind of similar to erasing but is editable.

Say you use the erase tool and erase a section of an image then after another two or three actions you find you wanted to reveal a small section. this means using the history to go back and re-edit everything you have done.

Using a layer mask all you would do is select the mask and reveal the section you want by painting white on the mask. Voila job done. Layer masks are much more useful than tryingto erase parts of an image.

I appreciate that with elements you do not have layer masks so in that case the erase tool may be your only option.

[EOS_JD]

Good advice has been given above about the use of the brushes in the colour mask (ie white removes, black restores) but I noticed something in the OP's post that may be signicant. He says "I mess around, clicking the photo on the Layers palet," - you don't click the photo in the layers palette, you have to make sure that the mask itself is clicked, otherwise the brushes will not have the desired effect.


White Reveals, Black Conceals..... You have it the wrong way round.

When you create a layer mask, generally the mask is white. So paint black on the mask to hide portions of the layer.

You can select the layer mask and fill it with black then you use the brush tool with the foreground set to white to reveal parts of an image.

Depends what your particular task is. Once mastered your editing will improve a lot.

[EOS_JD]

I'm really just playing trying to understand what the heck a mask does.

I'm watching the Adobe CS3 tutorials (http://www.adobe.com/designcenter/video_workshop/) following along, specifically "Aligning layers by content" by John Nack. It's showing how to use the new Auto Align features and doing a head swap.

I have a formal that sadly need head swaps or I'll be stuck using the one with the worst lighting and focus, but mainly it's high time I broke "the layers barrier" since so far I've gotten by with Lightroom and the Self Intuitive features of Photoshop.

I've had this problem before. People say "just brush in a mask and it'll reveal the underlying layer". I try making the brush paint WHITE or BLACK, but maybe I don't know how to do that.

John's fingers move Real Fast when he gets to that part "Now I grab my brush and ..." zip zing. I pause and replay slow-mo but still can't see how he did that, nor did he stop to adjust colors. Grrrr. These teachers who assume people know, lol. Lucky for POTN!

Hold the phone! I just noticed the little "Color" icon above the Layers palate. Moving it from White to Gray makes it opaic! Wow!

If you are trying to put a head on a subject, I usually select the head (and a portioon of the image around it) from another image and copy it (control c) then I paste it into the new image and use the move tool to align it properly myself. Switch the new layer on/off to get the alignment right.

Now use a layer mask and paint black (with a small soft brush) around the head to remove the bits of the image you want to remove. If you make an error just change to white to paint the area removed back in).

Should take no more than 5 mins.

I do this a lot to swap in a pair of open eyes over closed eyes!

[Roy Mathers]

White Reveals, Black Conceals..... You have it the wrong way round.

When you create a layer mask, generally the mask is white. So paint black on the mask to hide portions of the layer.

You can select the layer mask and fill it with black then you use the brush tool with the foreground set to white to reveal parts of an image.

Depends what your particular task is. Once mastered your editing will improve a lot.

Sorry I was the wrong way round, but what I was really getting at was that the OP appeared to be clicking on the layer thumbnail rather than the mask icon.

[EOS_JD]

Sorry I was the wrong way round, but what I was really getting at was that the OP appeared to be clicking on the layer thumbnail rather than the mask icon.

Yes I saw that although if he was clicking on the image and painting with the brush tool, he would be painting over the image in whatever colour the foreground was. that's what made me feel he had selected the mask but was painting over the mask in the same colour the mask already was (ie white)

[Roy Mathers]

Yes I saw that although if he was clicking on the image and painting with the brush tool, he would be painting over the image in whatever colour the foreground was. that's what made me feel he had selected the mask but was painting over the mask in the same colour the mask already was (ie white)

True - perhaps we need a fuller explanation?

[EOS_JD]

True - perhaps we need a fuller explanation?

Of what? There's plenty of sites on the web giving info on the use of layer masks.

http://www.lunacore.com/photoshop/tutorials/tut003.htm

try this one.

[Roy Mathers]

I meant a fuller explanation of exactly what the OP was doing.

[EOS_JD]

I meant a fuller explanation of exactly what the OP was doing.

:) sorry Roy. it ooks like he was following a video tutorial.

If he tries the above link it may make things a little clearer. Took me a few goes to start getting it and even then a few more goes for it to really click into place.

[Roy Mathers]

Yes. the best way is to just keep trying and learn from experience:D

[EOS_JD]

Yes. the best way is to just keep trying and learn from experience:D

Yes after a while you will get it.

[Bsmooth]

You can also change the color of the mask itself,by holding down the Alt key,in which case you will see a black mask instead of a white one.Then that changes how you paint on the image,and also which color to use.

[René Damkot]

That link explaines masking quite well. Nice.
One addition: If you click on the mask in the layers palette, then hit \ or * (depending on PS version), the mask is shown as a Quick Mask.
Sometimes usefull...

[EOS_JD]

That link explaines masking quite well. Nice.
One addition: If you select the mask, then hit \ or * (depending on PS version), the mask is shown as a Quick Mask.
Sometimes usefull...

You can also turn the mask into a selection by holding down the control (command) key and clicking on the mask.

[EOS_JD]

You can also change the color of the mask itself,by holding down the Alt key,in which case you will see a black mask instead of a white one.Then that changes how you paint on the image,and also which color to use.

Yes I mentioned that earlier in the post that if you have a black mask this hides everything on that layer and white will reveal what you want to see. The only colours you will paint are white ort black or grey.

the grey will reflect opacity. With white as 0% (showing layer) and black 100% (hiding layer - or parts of a layer)

[René Damkot]

Made my above post a bit clearer (I think) to make a distinction between 'Clicking the mask in the layers palette' vs. 'making a selection'.
'Select' probabely wasn't the best word I could have used ;)

[EOS_JD]

You can also make a selection on an image and turn it quickly into a layer mask by selecting the layer mask icon. it will show the selection as white and the remainder hidden as black.

[NBEast]

If you are trying to put a head on a subject, I usually select the head (and a portioon of the image around it) from another image and copy it (control c) then I paste it into the new image and use the move tool to align it properly myself. Switch the new layer on/off to get the alignment right.
If you don't have CS3, have a look see at the Adobe tutorials (http://www.adobe.com/designcenter/video_workshop/) on CS3's new features. They keep making gitty reference to "how it used to be done". The new "autoaligh" feature works for a formal since the background is identical and most of the stuff is the same. I'll give your method a try (and that link a read).

Now; I've flattened out the image and on to my next mystery.

My Kubotu Artistic Actions II is having trouble getting THAT painting to work, sigh. I've used this 1000 times on CS2, double sigh. Oh well, off to work. What I need is "tutorials for dummies", that warn of all the common mistakes - 'cause I seem to make them all.

[EOS_JD]

I use CS3 and lightroom. Lightroom gets more use than Ps these days.

Also I've made all the mistakes starting out too...... 5 years on and I still make them :D

[NBEast]

I use CS3 and lightroom. Lightroom gets more use than Ps these days.

Also I've made all the mistakes starting out too...... 5 years on and I still make them :D
Hey, there's a market for "for dummies videos"!

I've mainly not used layers or selections to-date because (besides not knowing how) separating something from it's background is just so difficult. Short of 1 hour of tedious pixel selection, it looks terrible.

That's why the new Selection and blending tools on CS3 really leaves me excited! It finally fits my impatience! This Auto Fit feature is really what prompted me to move to CS3 - and finally take time to learn layering.

So far; I've watched about 2 hours of these Adobe flash tutorials and demos on CS3. Most of it's gone over my head so I'm starting out again, but seeing what's possible is IMPRESSIVE!

Anyone know a good Photoshop CS3 book (or tutorial set) that will get me up to "Level 2" in 150 pages or less? The more big pictures and fail-proof instructions the better. :-| Sometimes I feel like the Adobe Help screens are written by someone who already knows, for someone who already knows (at least the fundamentals). They could REALLY use more hot-links to underlying concepts and elaborations. Sigh ... I'm sure I'll appreciate the brevity after I learn the basics from a 3rd party book.

RE: My Kubotu Actions problem - I was too hasty installing it and apparently, they require proper installation of the entire package, including Tools presets, whatever that is (and I don't think I want to know).

[EOS_JD]

Total Training and Linda.com do great video tutorials.

Scott Kelby writes great books. I have Photoshop CS2 for Digital Photographers. I'm sure there's a CS3 one out now.

[Roy Mathers]

Total Training and Linda.com do great video tutorials.

.


I think it's lynda.com;)

[EOS_JD]

you're right Roy :D

[PhotosGuy]

...with elements you do not have layer masks... Not true.
See post # 14
A question about sky (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=338140)

Elements Mask plug-ins
http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/pselements/p/layermasks.htm