Workshop


Q&A

Q1:

My picture has a lot of red in it, and the red mask is hard to see. Is there a way to change it to some other color ?

A1:

Of course. If you're working in Quick Mask mode, double-click the Quick Mask Mode button on the toolbox to open the Quick Mask Options dialog box. If you're working on a layer mask, Control+click (Mac) or right-click (Windows) the layer mask icon in the Layers palette. This opens a contextual menu that gives you access to the Layer Mask Options dialog box. In either one, you can set the color and amount of opacity for your mask. In the Quick Mask dialog box, you can also set a radio button to determine whether the selection or the mask is indicated by the colored area.

Q2:

If I'm doing catalog photos of small objects and want to mask the backgrounds, is it easier to select the background or to select the object and invert the selection?

A2:

That depends on how complicated and/or how colorful the object is. If it's all one color, you can probably select it with one Magic Wand click and invert it to make your mask in a couple of seconds. If the background is simple and the object isn't, select the background.

Q3:

I carefully painted in a mask, but the edges look wrong. They seem to have a dark line around them. Why?

A3:

You probably had the brush set for Wet Edges. You can fix it, if it's an opaque mask (not painted in gray), by pouring black into the masked area with the Paint Bucket tool.

Q4:

The selection tools missed some of the petals on the flower I'm trying to mask, but my hand's not steady enough to draw them in. What can I do?

A4:

Enlarge the image to 200% or even more. Then you can see what you're doing and draw or erase more precisely.

Quiz

1:

A mask can hide

  1. An object

  2. The background

  3. Either the background or an object

2:

Masks can be opaque, semi-opaque, or transparent.

  1. True

  2. False

3:

You can have up to 12 masks on a single layer.

  1. True

  2. False

4:

Masks are saved with the picture and, therefore, increase file size . To save disk space, always

  1. Apply and discard the masks after you're sure you're done with them

  2. Flatten the image

  3. Hide the layer masks

Quiz Answers

A1:

c. Masks hide anything you want to protect.

A2:

b. If the mask is transparent, it's not hiding anything. Parts of a mask can be and often are transparent, but not the whole mask.

A3:

b. Sorry, only one layer mask per layer. Use Quick Mask for additional masking.

A4:

a. and b. both work. Flattening the image compresses the layers and applies the masks.

Exercise

Find a picture with several similar objects in it. Mask them separately and experiment with changing the colors of the objects, one at a time, without changing the background.



Teach Yourself Adobe Photoshop CS 2 In 24 Hours
Sams Teach Yourself Adobe Photoshop CS2 in 24 Hours
ISBN: 0672327554
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2005
Pages: 241
Authors: Carla Rose

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