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To get both of these images into the same Photoshop document, with each photo on its own separate layer, you need to go to the File menu. Image courtesy: Jimmy McIntyre Getting your images into Photoshop Next, we see a white square appear next to the Hello layer. In the example, the user selects “HELLO” by pressing the square button underneath the layers that has a circle in it.
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You accomplish this by selecting the image you want to mask. Think of it as a stack of papers.Īt this point, you create your Layer Mask. This means that both images are in the document, but we only see the first image because it’s placed on top of the second. In the first image, we have a yellow background and simple text that reads, “HELLO.” In the second image, we have a white background and the word “Goodbye.”įor this tutorial, the user will mask a portion of the first layer so the frame shows “Goodbye” and “HELLO.” In Photoshop, the image has the first layer placed on top of the second layer. To get started, let’s analyze a step-by-step tutorial on masking from Jimmy McIntyre. Photoshop offers a wide-ranging set of functions for controlling layer masks. Layer masking give’s you a way to fix mistakes with little effort. If you catch a mistake later on, it will be hard to fix.
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This also allows you to play with the transparency without destroying the image. With layer masks, you can keep every pixel of the original image accessible if you want to include it later. However, when you do this, you are deleting those segments permanently. You can use Photoshop’s Eraser tool to remove segments of your image. You can use the masking tool to hide the green screen background to make it look like your actors are standing in front of the city. Then, you select the second image of your actors in front of a green screen and layer it on top of your background. You take your first image to make your poster’s backdrop - let’s say a cityscape. You can make the invisible portion visible again if you choose to do so.įor example, let’s say you want to make your own movie poster. Layer masking allows you to use Photoshop to remove a section of an image without deleting it. In short, layer masking makes parts of a layer invisible.
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