PS101 Group D - Selection Tools & Masks

Canon EF 17-40mm f/4.0L USM

05/13/2007 04:40:24 PM · #27

Originally posted by GeneralE:

Hope you don't mind if I jump in ...

Not at all - I appreciate the help.

Nullix

Canon EOS-5D Mark III

05/13/2007 10:31:37 PM · #28

Wow, I'm digging the quick mask. But, where is it in the menu or which window is it in (when I forget the "q" short cut command).

Tamron SP AF 17-50mm f/2.8 Di II LD Aspherical (IF) for Nikon

05/13/2007 10:36:10 PM · #29

Originally posted by Nullix:

Wow, I'm digging the quick mask. But, where is it in the menu or which window is it in (when I forget the "q" short cut command).

Here you go.

Click the button I've colored red to enter quick mask and the one I've colored green to exit. They're not really colored; I just did that for labeling.

Note that you can double-click on either one to pop open a window that lets you set whether you see the masked vs. selected areas, and also lets you choose the color for the mask. It also lets you select the opacity, to determine how much of the image to show through the mask.

Olympus 40-150mm f/3.5-4.5 Zuiko Digital

05/14/2007 05:03:50 AM · #30

WOW! That dune grass brush is fun!

joynim

Olympus E-500 EVOLT

05/14/2007 06:52:08 AM · #31

Nice work Sue :)

05/14/2007 07:04:17 AM · #32

Thanks Charlie!

Melethia

Canon EOS-80D

05/14/2007 07:33:42 AM · #33

I think Sue did such a great job, I'll just email her anything I need selected. :-) But I will try the masking thing, even if I don't post results.

Nikon AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D

05/14/2007 07:46:43 AM · #34

It's Art's recommendation to use the Dune Grass brush on the hair....... makes it so quick and easy. I used it on the tail and a few of the hairier bits on the edges.

wavelength

Nikon D300

05/14/2007 11:02:44 AM · #35

Originally posted by suemack:

WOW! That dune grass brush is fun!

Wow, that's awesome, you obviously have a TON more patience than I do for making selections. Even if you did use Ken's trick ;)

Tamron SP AF 17-50mm f/2.8 Di II LD Aspherical (IF) for Nikon

05/15/2007 01:22:29 AM · #36

Layer masks: making masks permanent
I moved my whole post to a DPC tutorial.

Message edited by author 2007-10-18 15:19:25.

Melethia

Canon EOS-80D

05/15/2007 01:00:33 PM · #37

I think I'm getting the hang of the mask thing, though I really need to learn to a) use my tablet, and b) use the brushes available more effectively.

Since I was tired of the squirrel, I worked on something else. Note that this shot was taken outside of the range of the current desat challenge but I figured it would be good practice. (It can be removed if any feel it's in violation of the spirit of whatever.)

Here is the original crop, then the masked edited version. I made the selection, did a quick mask, created a "real" mask, fine tuned the selection with the paintbrush, adjusted the hue/sat on the mask on a separate layer, by choosing the "use previous layer as clipping mask" or whatever that says (and don't know if that was a correct thing to do or not.) I then went back to the original background layer, created a duplicate layer (which is now underneath my masked layer) and desat'd that duplicate layer. Finally squashed 'em all together, did a sharpen, and saved.

05/15/2007 04:01:28 PM · #38

Ohhhhhh nice work Deb!!! Look at all that detail on her hair!!!

Tamron SP AF 17-50mm f/2.8 Di II LD Aspherical (IF) for Nikon

05/15/2007 05:28:03 PM · #39

Originally posted by Melethia:

Gorgeous!

What I didn't say was that for DPC purposes, layer masks on adjustment layers are the most common way I use them. I rarely have cause to create layer masks of actual image information.

The "clipping mask" tells a given layer to behave as if it had the same layer mask as the layer just beneath it. You can stack 'em up, too. You'll see a little arrow to the left of the image thumbnail pointing down to tell you it's using the next-lower layer's mask.

Sounds like you used it perfectly: when you want to use the same mask for multiple layers.

Tamron SP AF 17-50mm f/2.8 Di II LD Aspherical (IF) for Nikon

05/17/2007 11:32:13 PM · #40

Is anyone still out there?

I've found that for DPC advanced editing challenges, the main use for layer masks is for controlling various adjustment layers like curves, levels, and color changes (layer masks are selections, so are illegal for minimal and basic editing, and there are many more uses in expert editing).

But you can also have a lot of fun with "multiple personality shots" like my recent triptych entry. Take a look and then come back to learn how to do it:

At its simplest, this took three steps:

1) Shoot. Use a tripod and manual settings. You want the lighting to be the same for each shot.

2) Combine shots into one Photoshop file. First open one file as the "base" layer to provide the background for the others. Then open each additional shot and copy it as a layer into the base file.

One way to do that is to click and drag the new layer from the layers tab over to the base file and let go; it will then appear as a layer in the base file. You might need to move the layer once it's moved to get it aligned right.

3) Create layer masks . Just mask out the portion of each additional shot that you want to show. That way, minor changes in the background or lighting won't matter.

For my triptych, I used the leftmost shot as the base. Although there were a couple of girls chasing a ball in the background, I just masked them out of the other two shots.

Here's a composite showing the original three shots, the layer masks for the middle and right shots, and the final composite without the white lines:

You can get as complex as you want; changing clothes and hair really sells the effect well. The longer you take shooting outside, though, the more chance the light will change. And after you do the basics, watch for things like overlapping shadows, reflections, etc.

Set up a tripod (or just put your camera on a table), shoot a few pics, and make your own multi-personality shot.

Here are a few other examples to inspire you:

Bonus assignment: after doing it, try doing a triptych where part of one frame overlaps the other, like in the cartwheel shot above. You now have the layer masking tools to do it in any of various ways.

colorcarnival

Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III

Olympus 45mm f/1.8 M.Zuiko Digital

05/17/2007 11:40:51 PM · #41

yipes i'm behind.

Canon EF 17-40mm f/4.0L USM

05/18/2007 08:26:23 AM · #42

I'm here, but it's been the week from hades at work. Got some time this weekend to get back to photoshop and play.

Nullix

Canon EOS-5D Mark III

05/18/2007 09:26:51 AM · #43

I always wanted to do one of these. Now, I just have to figure out if the subject is me or my boy.

Melethia

Canon EOS-80D