ABSTRACT
The easiest way to remove something from a picture is to erase it. But the simplest way isn’t always best: once something has been erased, it’s gone, and it can be hard to get it back. Using a Layer Mask, on the other hand, allows us to hide part of a layer without ever deleting it — which means we can choose to show it again later if we change our mind. There’s much more to hiding and showing picture elements than merely painting them out on a mask. We can use all of Photoshop’s tools and techniques to make layers interact with each other, using different modes to allow us to see the layers beneath, or automatically making parts of a layer invisible depending on their brightness. Clipping masks are the easiest way of constraining the visibility of one layer to that of the layer beneath.
