Happy Friday everyone!
This week we are going to take a look at layer masks. These are important as they are an essential building block for any type of composition that you will ever make. It is through masks that you are able to do some of the advanced blends and other type stuff. Below you can get a sense of what we’re trying to accomplish.
Without any further ado, lets get started!
Hey Guys!
Thanks to everyone who has been holding out for the past year! I know that this has been a long time coming, but I promise you, it is worth the wait! I have been putting together a lot of great stuff these past several months and am getting more excited than ever to release it! I’ve already published PS101:Know Your Tools and PS101:Know Your Panels and there is plenty more where that came from!
Look for 2 more articles coming up this week covering the Curves Adjustment and Layer Masking. I have been getting a lot of inquires on those two subjects specifically, so I thought I would cover them right away. Following shortly after that will be an in-depth look at blending modes and the various options you have available to you when compositing elements together within an image. Exciting stuff!
In the meantime, if you direct your attention over to the Resources section in the navigation panel (to your right), you’ll find I have added countless helpful websites that I use on a near-daily basis.
Enjoy!
Have a question about Photoshop that you want resolved? Suggestions for a tutorial? Submit them here!
Understanding your workspace is one of the most difficult feats to overcome when first starting out in Photoshop. This article is in no way meant to be a substitution for experimentation and exploration. The only way you’ll ever truly understand Photoshop is to navigate through it on your own.
In this article, we’ll be covering the following aspects of the Photoshop workspace:
If you look at the toolbox, you’ll see that it can be separated into a few different categories:
Many of these tools operate in a similar fashion and produce similar results, just in slightly different ways. So why did Adobe make everything so complicated, you ask? Because different tools can perform different tasks more easily.
A helpful hint: Holding [Shift] and/or [Alt] will modify the function of many tools. Think of Shift as your rigid modifier, forcing the tool into a locked aspect ratio or straight lines at every 45º. Try holding them when working with a tool to see what results!
Additionally, each tool has a letter shortcut associated with it. If you hold [Shift] and press the corresponding tool’s letter you will cycle through those buried beneath it.
It’s true, PhotoshopKid.com will finally be arriving to an internet near you!
After a year of delays and preparation I am proud to announce that I am nearly ready to open the doors. Keep a steely eye on the horizon, this site is due to burst with content any day now.
‘Til next time!
Zach: Great to see that you’ve gotten things rolling. I’ll be sure to talk you up. For reasons more...
Bryan: Holding alt, ctrl, or shift keys while using some of the tools do different (and potentially helpful) things....
Jarrod: Yeah content! As of right now, I can’t see any borders for the fields in this comments section. Keep it...
Tripp: Dude… give me some content already.
Lauren: ha this is sweet. i have faith in you!