What r the advantages of using masks over...

To any PS gurus out there,

I love playing around with PS. But when I stop learning new things, I become complacent with the limited knowledge I have so I want to explore masks.

Can anyone please enlighten me as to the advantages of using masks over a selection?

From reading what you can do with masks, I've generally used selections to do it. That is, I use a selection to mask out other areas from effects I want to apply in the unmasked or selected area.

If I want a stencil effect, I normally make a layer with the selection, and apply effects to the layer below.

What do masks allow you to do that selections, or a layer from a selection can't do?

--
SaM mUrAi

I think, and this is just me, that masks are far more versatile than selections, you can paint in or out problem areas and you can have a mask on every layer allowing you to even farther isolate parts of the subject. The PS file can be saved with it's masks all intact.
"Sam Murai" wrote in message

To any PS gurus out there,

I love playing around with PS. But when I stop learning new things, I become
complacent with the limited knowledge I have so I want to explore masks.
Can anyone please enlighten me as to the advantages of using masks over a selection?

From reading what you can do with masks, I've generally used selections to do it. That is, I use a selection to mask out other areas from effects I want to apply in the unmasked or selected area.

If I want a stencil effect, I normally make a layer with the selection, and
apply effects to the layer below.

What do masks allow you to do that selections, or a layer from a selection can't do?

--
SaM mUrAi

Sam Murai wrote:

To any PS gurus out there,

I love playing around with PS. But when I stop learning new things, I become complacent with the limited knowledge I have so I want to explore masks.
Can anyone please enlighten me as to the advantages of using masks over a selection?

From reading what you can do with masks, I've generally used selections to do it. That is, I use a selection to mask out other areas from effects I want to apply in the unmasked or selected area.

If I want a stencil effect, I normally make a layer with the selection, and apply effects to the layer below.

What do masks allow you to do that selections, or a layer from a selection can't do?

--
SaM mUrAi

You can just do so much more with masks. Gradients for instance can more easily be adjusted in a mask using Levels (you can do this with a selection by using Quickmask by the way). You can add a mask to an entire layer set. Lots of stuff. Just another arrow in the quiver.

--
Comic book sketches and artwork:
http://www.sover.net/~hannigan/edjh.html
Comics art for sale:
http://www.sover.net/~hannigan/batsale.html

It sounds like you are off to a very good start with your knowledge of selections and various uses for them. Selections and masks are closely related and you can switch from one to the other. Having said that, a whole new world awaits you with masks.

I'd been using Photoshop for about 8 years and have read many books on the program, mainly about general usage, and colour correction. These books all avoided a serious look at masks. A few months ago, I came across and bought "Photoshop Classic Effects" by Scott Kelby.

This book does not teach you about Photoshop or masks. It shows you, in simple and easy to follow steps, how to produce very professional effects, such as movie posters and magazine adverts, etc. using many of the features of Photoshop, including layer masks.

In the very first lesson, using my own images, my jaw dropped when the power of layers and layer masks became clear to me. My whole use of Photoshop took a huge turn for the better, especially in the creation of DVD menus for use in Adobe Encore DVD.

You should also make use of Adjustment Layer masks.

The ultimate beauty of masks is that you can save your selections and change them later.

John

On Mon, 1 Nov 2004 21:59:54 +1100, "Sam Murai" wrote:

To any PS gurus out there,

I love playing around with PS. But when I stop learning new things, I become complacent with the limited knowledge I have so I want to explore masks.
Can anyone please enlighten me as to the advantages of using masks over a selection?

From reading what you can do with masks, I've generally used selections to do it. That is, I use a selection to mask out other areas from effects I want to apply in the unmasked or selected area.

If I want a stencil effect, I normally make a layer with the selection, and apply effects to the layer below.

What do masks allow you to do that selections, or a layer from a selection can't do?

On Tue, 02 Nov 2004 23:39:14 +1100, John H wrote:

The ultimate beauty of masks is that you can save your selections and change them later.

John

To emphasize this point, any selection can be turned into a mask and vice versa. I often use a combination of layers and masks to make adjustments to my photographs. Quite often, I will look at a print and realize that my selection was not as precise as I thought. I can easily fix this after the fact by just adjusting the mask. Layer masks can be particularly useful in this regard. If I need to alter an area of a photograph, I almost always do this by duplicating the image to a new layer and creating a layer mask to isolate the parts I want to change. That way I can re-adjust my adjustments and my selection independently later if I need to.

You can also save any "interesting" selection by creating an "alpha" channel from it. Alpha channels are essentially saved selections that do not directly affect the image. You can store as many selections as you like this way. Since the masks are stored in the saved .PSD file, they remain available for reuse and modification even after you save and reload the file.

Cheers,

Leonard

In article ,
EXTRASTUFF.rr.com says...

On Tue, 02 Nov 2004 23:39:14 +1100, John H wrote:

The ultimate beauty of masks is that you can save your selections and change them later.

John

To emphasize this point, any selection can be turned into a mask and vice versa. I often use a combination of layers and masks to make adjustments to my photographs. Quite often, I will look at a print and realize that my selection was not as precise as I thought. I can easily fix this after the fact by just adjusting the mask. Layer masks can be particularly useful in this regard. If I need to alter an area of a photograph, I almost always do this by duplicating the image to a new layer and creating a layer mask to isolate the parts I want to change. That way I can re-adjust my adjustments and my selection independently later if I need to.

You can also save any "interesting" selection by creating an "alpha" channel from it. Alpha channels are essentially saved selections that do not directly affect the image. You can store as many selections as you like this way. Since the masks are stored in the saved .PSD file, they remain available for reuse and modification even after you save and reload the file.

Cheers,

Leonard

Yes, they are very similar and are almost an exercise in semantics. Most of my "Masks" start as a Selection, or a Path made into a Selection. Either editing the Selection directly, or in Quick Mask, is just a refinement of the Selection. Its almost the same as talking about a film transparency v a slide. One encompasses more than 35mm, but they are the same film. Imagine a Mask as a Selection on steroids. Once the Selection has been made, you can take it to the next level - and beyond, with advanced Masking adjustments.

Hunt

Sam,
There's little of my personal tweaking that doesn't use masking of some sort, but I often use the base image (usually copied from the red greyscale channel) as the mask itself. My preference is using the mask in KPT 5 Shapeshifter and FiberOptix as well as KPT 6 Materializer. Some samples of the images, all using masks and NO selections can be seen at the following links:

http://www.amenfoto.com/gallery/tweaked_1/manoscan.html

http://www.amenfoto.com/gallery/tweaked_1/peppers.html

http://www.amenfoto.com/gallery/tweaked_portraits_1/is_chica s_materialize.html

http://www.amenfoto.com/gallery/tweaked_portraits_2/brisa_li nda_fibre.html

http://www.amenfoto.com/gallery/tweaked_portraits_2/waiting_ room_sshifter.html

http://www.amenfoto.com/gallery/tweak_42nd_st/42nd_street_ha rlequin.html

http://www.amenfoto.com/gallery/tweaked_metallix/metallic_te xt_box.html

"Sam Murai" ...

To any PS gurus out there,

I love playing around with PS. But when I stop learning new things, I become complacent with the limited knowledge I have so I want to explore masks.
Can anyone please enlighten me as to the advantages of using masks over a selection?

From reading what you can do with masks, I've generally used selections to do it. That is, I use a selection to mask out other areas from effects I want to apply in the unmasked or selected area.

If I want a stencil effect, I normally make a layer with the selection, and apply effects to the layer below.

What do masks allow you to do that selections, or a layer from a selection can't do?