The Power of Layer Masks

Hey Guys!

So, the other day I had a student ask for assistance in photoshop using layer masks and i thought i would write a post about it in case someone had a similar question. I know for me, it took a while to understand these little guys and they seemed overly complicated. HAVE NO FEAR... they aren't as bad as they seem. First off, i will just explain what a layer mask does. A layer mask deals with what part of a layer is visible by affecting the opacity of different parts of the image. you can add a layer mask by going to the "layers" menu and hitting the symbol that looks like a white circle in a grey rectangle. Using a brush or gradient tool allows you to start erasing. When you use the brush tool with color set to black, the effect is very similar to the eraser tool, however, unlike the eraser tool, the "eliminated" pixels aren't deleted but merely made invisible. Basically, adding black to a layer mask lowers the opacity of the darkened area, while adding white restores this area to full opacity. Why is this so awesome? Because it allows you to erase without forever-and-completely loosing any of your image! This is a God-send when working with complex layering or gradient overlapping. Layer masks save time when making edits and prevent accidents brought about by missing pixel-info.
I hope this helps!

>Taylor