In Tutorials Jul 25, 200911
Photoshop 101: How To Use Layer Masks
In this short tutorial you will learn what layer masks are and how to utilize them for working faster and more efficiently in Photoshop.
Lets consider what masks do: They hide or show things. Masks in photoshop work the same way: they can hide or show parts of images. In general filling a layer mask with black hides a part of the image. Filling a layer mask with white shows a part of an image. Filling the mask with gray will show the part of the image with varying opacity based on how light or dar the gray is.
Step 1: Select two photos that you want to combine and place them in your Photoshop document.
I just selected two random photos that I found on the internet for the purposes of this tutorial.
Photo 1: A giant wall of bananas:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/myszka/2241313997/
Photo 2: A nice comfy living room setting:
http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1208339
Make sure the banana photo is below the living room photo:
Step 2: Select the living room photo in the layers palette and click on the mask icon at the bottom.
(if you cant see it go to view>Layers) This creates the layer mask. You should notice a white box next to your layer with a little link.
Step 3: Select the couch area of photo 2 using your selection tool of choice.
This is the area of the photo we are going to hide. After this area is selected
Step 4 With the banana layer selected fill the couch area with black.
Filling the mask with black tells Photoshop to hide this part of the photo. The banana background should now show through.
Your image should now look like this:
With a few simple tweaks you can show the texture of the wall and the shadows by setting the blending mode of the banana layer to soft light.
Such lovely wallpaper. 
Download the PSD
By Niki Brown – author of The Design O’Blog. Follow me (@nikibrown) on twitter!
11 Comments
Jul 25, 2009
Aw how I like the result!
I know about layer mask technique, but what you’ve shown here is just so clever. Impressed by how the shadow of the wall blent very neatly with the banana texture
Thanks for the great tut!
Jul 26, 2009
Sweet!
It’s the perfect tutorial. Clear explanations, nice little screen shots, and something that can be finished in about 10-15 minutes.
Thanks!
-David
Jul 29, 2009
Nice effect and tutorial. Parts of it were somewhat confusing, though.
For instance, in Step 1, you said, “Make sure the banana photo is below the living room photo:,” but in the accompanying image, the banana photo is clearly above the living room photo in the layer order.
Then, in Step 2, you said, “Select the living room photo in the layers palette and click on the mask icon at the bottom,” but the image for that part of the tutorials depicts the banana photo layer being selected and having the mask applied to it.
Could you please clarify? Thanks.
Tom
Jul 29, 2009
Always wondered how to use layer masks, you just explained it clearly and concisely. Thanks!
Jul 30, 2009
oh this is just great !!
loved it.
Aug 3, 2009
I just want to say the same like Jason:
Always wondered how to use layer masks, you just explained it clearly and concisely. Thanks!
Aug 3, 2009
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Aug 3, 2009
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Aug 5, 2009
[...] BoxA very simple tutorial on how to use layer masks, comes from Design Reviver’s site here: Photoshop 101: How To Use Layer Masks | Design Reviver. Share this [...]
Aug 6, 2009
Photoshop 101: How To Use Layer Masks…
In this short tutorial you will learn what layer masks are and how to utilize them for working faster and more efficiently in Photoshop….
Nov 20, 2009
hahaha…
what a very cute piece of artwork!
nice one…keep on sharing very useful tutorial like this…i love the banana thing…hahaha
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