Somebody just helped me in doing a chroma key on lab mode playing with a and b values (I got all that) and at the end he added "if necessary add a garbage matte layer mask" I have no idea what he meant, tried to find out thru all the icons but nothing has that name .... can somebody help me out how to do that?
I am not an expert on photoshop but can follow steps and figure things out quick. Thanks for your help
#1
"Garbage matte" is a term from the film industry. It means masking out any remaining glitches that remain after the chroma key operation, such as folds in the backdrop, equipment at the edges of the frame, etc. This is easily done using a layer mask.
#2
by layer mask you mean adding another layer and covering manually the imperfections? Thanks
#3
A layer mask is added to an existing layer. Paint the layer black to selectively hide the contents of the layer.
#4
O E,
That person was stretching the term Garbage Matte a bit. As Mike says, borrowed from film/video. The purpose is the same - to mask out unwanted image area from the subject.
Again, as Mike points out, a Layer Mask is attached to its Layer and does the same thing, though with much more accuracy that a normal "Garbage Matte" in any NLE application. I doubt that you'll find Garbage Matte in any PS Help file, the manual, or probably any book on PS, unless maybe it'd be in PS CS3 Extended, as it does more video work.
After Layers, and just a little ahead of Adjustment Layers (IMO), Layer Masks are the most powerful tool in PS. How did I ever live without them back in the Dark Ages?
Hunt
#5