3b Understanding Layer MaskLayer Mask are probably the single most important concept in Photoshop in isolating area of an image. But, for some reason this most important feature has been left out of Element until version 8. Layer Mask is a key concept in the “Non-destructive Workflow” and until you thoroughly understand how and why they work, you simply don’t understand the power of Photoshop.

Original Result

Black mask the area of an image showing the layer below. White reveal the area of the image.

The result of the mask is everything in the black is transparent:

By inserting a new background below, the butterfly will appear on a different flower.

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Layer Mask Thumbnail – click it to make it active. Alt click to see it.

Create a Layer Mask in Elements.

Why Not Just Erase?

Upon first learning how to use masks, most rookies think the same thing: “I can already do all of this with the eraser tool.” Wrong! In fact, as far as I’m concerned, once you learn to mask, you should literally never pick up the eraser tool again because it tends to be so destructive.

What do I mean by destructive? Think about what happens when you use the eraser tool: it erases pixels. Mind you, it doesn’t hide them for a while until you want them back, it “destroys” the pixels. The changes that you make by deleting portions of a layer are permanent and can’t be recovered later

Layer masks in Elements 7 and earlier using these steps

Open an image with a duplicate background layer. If you don’t have one, open an image and duplicate your background layer (PC: Ctrl+J, Mac: Cmd+J).

1. Make your selection using any of the selection tools you learned earlier. On version 9 or higher you can make a new layer mask by clicking on the

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layer mask icon in the layers panel or Layer>Layer Mask>Reveal Selection.In version 11/12, a layer mask can be create under the new Refine Edge tool.

2. Create a new Levels adjustment layer, by clicking on the adjustment layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette, or by going to Layers > New Adjustment Layer > Levels. In the Layers palette, click and drag this new layer so that it’s directly below your duplicate layer.

3. Select your duplicate layer in the Layers palette.

4. We’re going to group the duplicate layer and the Levels adjustment layer together, and there are three ways to do this:• Go to the Layer menu and choose Group with Previous.• Use the keyboard shortcut, which is PC: Ctrl + G or Mac: Cmd + G.• You can go to the Layers palette, hold your mouse over the line between your duplicate layer and your Levels layer and hold the Option or Alt key. This is known as a clipping mask.Once you’ve created your clipping mask, there should be a little arrow next to your duplicate layer, pointing down to your Levels adjustment layer. The adjustment layer’s mask will now act as a mask for ONLY the duplicate layer.

5. Click on your Levels layer mask and select your Brush tool. To work on your mask hold the Alt key and click on the layer mask thumbnail.

Remember, when working with masks, “White reveals, black conceals.” So, to work on your mask, just set your Foreground and Background colors to black and white (press the D key if they aren’t, and press X to swap the foreground/background colors). Then you can start painting on your image and the effects will be applied to the layer mask.

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Paint white over the antenna. Make sure the Layer Mask is active.(brush size: 4px).

Use Alt –click on layer mask thumbnail to switch between layer mask view and image. Start with a very small brush (4px) at about 60% hardness and opacity. The secret is the paint in the image view, not the mask view. You can switch back to the mask view to see your result.

The image view is active, so if you paint it will go directly on the image not the mask.

Novice users will often get confused on the layer that is active. With a layer mask, this make it even more confusing.

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Alt click here to make the Layer Mask active.