Adobe® Photoshop® CS2 Studio Techniques

The Key Is to Choose the Right Tool

In Photoshop, there is almost always more than one way of getting the job done. In the area of masking, however, certain tools were designed for specific types of images, and it's all too common to find someone becoming frustrated with a tool because it's the only one they know, and they're trying to force it to do something it's not really meant for. The key to getting good at masking is to be familiar with as many masking tools as possible and to have a good grasp of what each tool was designed for so you can choose the right tool for the job at hand. Let's take a brief look at what's available, and then we'll dig deeper and explore each feature in depth:

• The Background Eraser: This tool is best for crisp-edged ...