MASKS SIMPLIFIED

Many photographers prefer to leave the post processing to others…or take images straight from the camera. Perhaps the challenges of using masks have discouraged them at some point. Today’s software options make masking easier than ever. Masks give you many options to transform good images to exceptional images. Over the next few months I will cover the ways you can use masks, while keeping it very simple. While learning these techniques, you will see examples of suitable application of each type of mask. 

Before we get into the use of masks, let’s describe a little bit about what they are. In Photoshop  there is a Layers Panel. The bottom layer is your original image. If you put another layer on top of the bottom layer, you will not see the bottom layer. But if you make that second layer semi-transparent (let’s say 50% transparent) you will see that layer plus the remaining percentage of the layer below it. A layer like this would be called a global edit because it applies uniformly to the entire image. Masks apply just to portions in varying amounts. 

For illustration purposes we will use the image below. If we wanted the whole image to be lighter, we would make a global change by increasing the brightness of the entire image. Let's say we want the white rock area to be lighter, but we don't want to change the rest of the image. One way to accomplish our goal would be to use layers and masks in Photoshop. We create a duplicate layer (Command J Mac, Control J PC). We make a global change to the new top layer, then we mask out the changes we don't want. 

Looking at the layers panel, you can see the mask has been added. It is possible to add a black mask and paint in the area we want to show through with white, then combine that layer with our background image. Or we could add a white mask and paint out all the area we do not want to sho through and combine with our background image. Note that the background should always be 100% opacity. We can modify the opacity of our masked layer if we want to reduce the amount of brightness we have added.

If your top layer was 100% and you could cut a big hole out of the middle of it, you would see the underneath layer combined with the part of the upper layer that did not have the hole. The way Photoshop illustrates the holes and not holes is with a mask. In the Layers Panel, the mask will show to the right side of the layer it is masking. The mask will appear as black, white and shades of gray. The black areas of the mask conceal (hide) the part of the layer it is applied to. The white areas reveal (cause to show) the areas of the mask it is applied to. Think of the grays as partially revealed and partially concealed. Because we use graduated (feathered) edges with many masking techniques, most masks have some gray areas.  You may not be able to visualize these gray areas on the little icons in the layers panel, but they are there. Later on we will learn how you can see those areas clearly.

It might be easier to visualize what you are getting if you think of the white areas as transparent, the gray areas as semi-transparent and the black areas as opaque. The mask is always applied to the active layer you are working on.

Now, here is the good part! You see the masks shown in Photoshop, but while you do not see them attached to a layer in Lightroom or Adobe Camera Raw the same thing is happening. Almost. When we start out with a mask in Photoshop, we are revealing the current top layer with a white mask. LR and ACR do not have a layers panel, but the similar actions (and more) are available using the Masks tool. But when you do any of these actions in LR or ACR you are creating the same thing as a white (revealed) area on a new top layer that is automatically merged to layer shown. In actuality, each layer is a set of instructions used by your computer to create a blended image so you can see the result you are creating. In the Masks list, you will see a black mask with white areas. You would get this same mask appearance if you inverted your mask in Photoshop. It is possible and often useful to invert masks in Photoshop. Likewise, you will find situations where you want to invert a mask in LR or ACR. You will see examples in a later article.

Below, we have opened our image in ACR. ACR and LR have basically the same actions and looks with slight variations. Note that the Mask selection panel shows the mask that has been added to our image. It is not yet important how we select the mask...that is the subject of following articles. Just note that approximately the same area was selected here and the mask looks about the same as it did when we created it in Photoshop. No changes have been made in the image shown below, only the mask area has been created. The checkbox Show Overlay has been checked and the overlay was selected as a lime green color for visibility. This can be changed to any color you prefer. As soon as you move a slider (such as the Exposure slider), the overlay will disappear and the change you have made to the image will be visible. 

I frequently start working on an image in Lightroom before taking it into Photoshop and then on to Adobe Camera Raw. This starts with global adjustments - those that apply to the entire image such as color balance, exposure and contrast. Next would be adjustments that apply just to certain areas of the image… perhaps the dark areas, or the saturation of certain colors, for example. A couple of decades ago, these changes would have had to have been made with masks in Photoshop. This spurred the development of a number of excellent, but challenging-to-master, aftermarket masking tools for Photoshop. The difficulty of these tools may have led some photographers prefer to do all their editing in LR. Masking is easy now, though.

Lightroom preserves that original layer before any edits, describe by the term “non-destructive” editing. You can always go back to the original image after any amount of Lightroom editing. All of the edits you apply are then shown in the History Panel which is normally available on the left side of your screen under the Navigator section. To preserve "non-destructive" editing in Photoshop, be sure to open your images from Lightroom into Photoshop as a Smart Object. 

In 2021, Lightroom added the Mask tool to Lightroom. This was a major advancement in adding simplicity and value to image editing. There have been a number of improvements to the tool since its launch. To start with the Mask tool, click on the dashed circle on the right side of the editing panel. You will then click on the + sign (in a circle) and then you will select from the possible Selections as seen in the below screenshot. The Range selection opens up to reveal Luminosity Range and Color Range. If there are people's faces detected in the image, each person will be represented by an icon of his or her face. In Lightroom or Adobe Camera Raw, you may visualize the areas affected by this invisible mask by checking the box “Show Overlay”. This will color the selected area. Use the color selection of the box to the right of the checkbox to select your preferred color.

A good workflow starts in Lightroom on your raw image, making global changes first and all other desired adjustments of the sliders. Then move on to making changes with the masks before taking the image into Photoshop. In Lightroom you will be able to see all these adjustments including a list of all the Mask changes you have made. These are all reversible (non-destructive). 

Then open your image in Photoshop where you can continue to make changes moving back and forth to ACR. In my opinion, this is easier than moving back and forth between PS and LR. Once you exit ACR or LR you will not have a visual representation of the previous masks you have applied. For this reason, you are wise to duplicate your image layers as you work, each time naming the new layer after the changes you have made (as we did above with "Brighten layer". This small step can pay off if want to delete or modify your changes later.

How and when do you decide to make any of the available selections? This will be the subject of articles to follow. Your comfort level with masks in Lightroom and Adobe Camera Raw will help you feel comfortable using masks at appropriate times in Photoshop as well. With these skills your images will go to another level.