The Masks panel

The “Masks” panel is available since the previous version of Photoshop.
At the top of the panel, we have two buttons (1).
These are used to add a mask to a layer or if they already added to the layer, to select it.
The right one is intended to add a vector mask to a layer. More on vector masks in a later lesson.
What I can say though is that, you only add a layer mask to a layer, but if you have a layer mask and a vector mask, you add a layer.
Below the panel we have a number of buttons (2) that we use, one, to make a selection in the layer mask, two, to “apply” the mask, three and four to hide and remove the layer mask.
Note, when your layer mask is “applied” to the mask that is united with the image, you can not edit the layer mask.Then we have two sliders to determine the obfuscation and the density of the layer mask (3).
There are three buttons that allow us to refine the layer mask (4).
The first button “Mask Edge” opens the “Refine Mask” dialog, which is very similar to the “Refine Edge” dialog that we had seen in a previous lesson and we can refine the mask edges with this.
The second button “Color Range” is used to create a selection area based on color samples.
And with the third and final button “Invert” we can invert the mask. In other words, black becomes white and white becomes black.
Finally, we have the downward pointing arrow (5) in the title bar of the panel, this opens a drop-down menu with a number of significant options.

Add Layer Mask

What you need to add a layer mask is, you guessed it, a layer. A regular layer, not background layer. Because you can not add layer masks on a background layer.
To add a layer mask, you shall first make a regular layer. How you do that, I already told you, double-click the background layer and click the OK button.

In order to add a layer mask to a layer, we have different possibilities.
I think the fastest way is to select the layer to which you want to add a layer mask and click the “Add Layer Mask” button at the bottom of the “Layers” panel.
A second way is the “Add Pixel Mask” button in the “Masks” panel.

When you have done this, a second thumbnail is added to the layer.
By default, the thumbnail is completely white, which means that this layer mask hides everything.
However, if you wish to add a layer mask that shows everything, that is a black layer mask, hold the Alt key on your keyboard pressed while you click “Add Layer Mask” button at the bottom of the “Layers” panel. This I already told you.

And a third way to add a layer mask is to click the “Layer” button in the menu bar, choose “Layer Mask” in the drop-down menu and click on “Reveal All” or “Hide All”.
“Reveal All” gives a full white mask, “Hide All” gives a full black mask.
But I think you know this all by yourself.

Another tip!
When you start to add a layer mask to a background layer and you use this button “Add Pixel Mask” in the “Masks” pane, you do not need to make a regular layer of the background layer. Photoshop will do this for you.

Edit Layer Mask

Before you do anything in the color layer mask, make sure that this is selected.
You can see this in the “Layers” section when the mask has a double edge.
If you are not sure whether or not it is selected, click once on the layer mask.

The basis of a layer mask is black, white and intermediate grays.
Everything in the black layer mask is displayed, everything in the white is hidden and everything in the gray is semi-transparent, that I had already told you and you should also remember.
These colors can be applied in different ways on the layer mask.
One way is the “brush” tool.
You select the “brush” tool in the tool bar (1), you choose black or gray tint (2) as foreground color, you select the layer mask (3) and you draw.
The order in which you do all this does not matter, as long as you start drawing only after you have performed the other actions.
Once you begin to draw, the layer appears in the photo (4). In this case, the red background.
As soon as you release the mouse button, the drawing is a layer mask (5).

If you have colored too much in black and therefore more of the underlying layer is shown, you can remove this by selecting the white color (1) and coloring on it (2).

Tip!
If you want to draw semi-transparent, you use a gray value as foreground color, which I had already told you. But the same can be achieved when we change the percentage in the “Opacity” setting in the options bar (3).

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