Adobe® Photoshop® CS2 Studio Techniques

Step 11—Double & Triple Check Masks

If you've used any Layer Masks to isolate and adjust areas, it's time to double-check your work before you start retouching your image, otherwise you might try to retouch defects caused by problems in the masks.

First check that the mask on each layer is really isolating the area or object you intend to work on. You can do that by clicking on one of the Adjustment Layers and pressing the backslash key (\) to view the mask as a color overlay (Figure 17.34). Your job is to then evaluate how closely the color overlay matches up with the object or area you were attempting to adjust. If you find any areas that don't match up, paint with black or white to modify the mask until it closely matches the area you were ...