How to layer mask in Photoshop (Lesson 29)

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In this video, I explained How to layer mask in Photoshop (Lesson 29). I showed why to use a photoshop layer mask, how to create photoshop layer masks, how to paint with black color to mask or white color to reveal or unhide the layer mask in Photoshop. In this Photoshop masking tutorial, I also showed the different keyboard shortcuts to enable or disable layer masks, swap foreground and background colors and for some other stuffs. For an example I used photoshop layer masks to blend 2 images into one seamlessly. In that case, I also showed how to apply multiple photoshop layer masks in a single layer. Finally, I showed how to adjust Feather and density of a layer mask.

Photoshop Tools used in this lesson:
Eraser tool,
Brush tool,
Gradient tool.

In short, Layer masking in Photoshop is done to keep our changes in a layer mask so that we can make more changes later if necessary.

This lesson, How to layer mask in Photoshop (Lesson29) is in 2 versions as always. You can either watch the English or the Bangla version.

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Source of images:
https://www.pexels.com/photo/buildings-clouds-dawn-dusk-594226/

https://www.pexels.com/photo/brown-boat-on-sea-715567/

English Subtitle:

Hello viewers! I am Rakib. In this lesson, I will show you how to layer mask in Photoshop. Before I start I should tell something that is from the beginning I was using Photoshop Creative Cloud 14.0 but from now on I will be using Photoshop Creative Cloud 19.0 but if you understand what I am doing in this version then I believe you can do it on your version as well. So you don't have to worry about the different versions. You can just follow what I am doing here. So let's get started. Here we have this background and another layer with Orange color. So we want to remove these areas from this background to see this layer behind. To do that we can use a background eraser tool and we can erase these areas. Now this is a destructive way of doing things. So better option is doing things in a layer mask so that you get the flexibility to edit or change something that you want to later on. So we will click here to create a layer mask. So now you can see it is completely white and you see nothing here cause white means reveal everything and when you want to hide something you have to paint with the Black color. So the Black means hide and the White means reveal or expose. So we have selected Black as the foreground color and we can use the brush tool from here and use a soft Brush, the hardness is 0, and very small amount of flow and now we can paint with the Black color. As you can see I am painting with the Black and it's hiding these areas. So now you can see in this layer mask, you can see these areas are Black that means these are hidden with the Black color and all these areas are White. If you hold Alt and click here then you can get a better view to see what's going on in this laye mask. Again let's hold Alt and click here. So as we are using the layer mask, all that we have done since now is in the mask. If you press and hold Shift and click here and disable this layer mask then you can see our main layer is completely intact. So that's the reason of using a layer mask to keep our main layer unchanged and making our changes into the mask. So let's hold Shift and click here to enable it again and when you are making your changes with the layer mask if you see something goes wrong then you can quickly press X from your keyboard that will swap these foreground and background colors and it will immediately switch the foreground color as White and then you can again brush from the areas that you want to reveal once again like this. So this was a very quick demonstration of this layer mask. Let's see a better example of what you can do with this layer mask. Let's bring a new layer and place it here. So this is the image that we want to blend within this background and to do that we will apply layer mask. So this is the layer and we will click here to add a layer mask and now we will select the Gradient tool from here and we will choose the Linear gradient and the Gradient which is Foreground to Background and the Foreground color will be Black and the Background will be White. With this setup we will hold Shift, click and drag like this. Now you can see how nicely it has faded these upper areas of this image and if you hold Alt and click here you can see this Gradient. So this is the  way it hides that areas. So we will hold Alt and click here again. So we need to add another layer mask here on the Horizontal axis to hide these areas. To do that we have to add another layer mask. To add multiple layer masks we have to create a layer group. This is the layer group and now we have to click hold and drag and drop it into that group. So now this layer and this layer mask belongs to this group. Now we have to create a layer mask for this group. Now we will click here. We have created our layer mask in this group and now we will again hold Shift and drag like this, let's do it again. If you want to apply another layer mask then you have to again create a another Layer group and drag and drop this layer group into this layer group to create a nested layer group and then you can add another layer mask within that group and apply it. Let's learn some other things about the layer mask from here. Whenever you complete clipping path and make selection like this with the Pen tool or may be with some different selection tools then make inverse selection and remove the backgrounds. Instead of that you can just click here to make a layer mask that will immediately hide or mask everything excepting your object. So if you hold Alt and click here you can see, everything is painted with Black to hide excepting your object which is White. So you can also double click here to modify it. You can add Feather to your object. You can also decrease the density. This is basically the transparency of your masked areas. So that's it. If you like this video then you can share it with your friends and subscribe to this channel for more videos like this. Thanks for watching. See you in the next lesson.