Adobe Photoshop CS4 Studio Techniques

Layer Masks

Now that you’ve seen how Photoshop’s masking features work, let’s look at how you can refine the results by using a layer mask. A layer mask hides areas of the image instead of permanently deleting them. That allows you to fix areas that don’t look right, or modify the edge quality of the image.

Notes

Now that you know how to use the Pen tool, read Chapter 10 to find out how to turn a path into a vector mask.

Start with an image that you’ve already isolated using one of the other masking tools. In the Layers panel, Command/Ctrl-click the layer thumbnail image for the layer from which you removed the background. That action will give ...