R&P 6: Photoshop : Masking Practise

MASKING PRACTISE

1. Firstly I duplicated my original image so that I could mask on this layer. Also it means my initial image is never edited so if I want to start again I can simply just delete the new layer which I had made to mask over.

2. Then make a mask on the layer you have just created. This mask is what you will be cutting out so that you can make the changed that you want to make.

3.  In this situation I wanted to change the colour of the hair so I painted over all of the parts I did not want to change the colour of in using the black paint brush. This method is particularly good because you can always go back and fix any mistakes by painting back over your erasing using the white paint brush.

4. Once you are happy with your cut out you can then begin to alter the colour because it will only alter the segment which you have masked. I tried to get as close as I could to the perfect cut out however in my actual album cover I would spend a lot of time ensuring that the cut out is perfect to give it a professional look.

 5. Then I selected the layer which I wanted to edit the colour of and went to Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation and it brought up three spectrums which I could alter to give the hair a different look.

6. Once I had played around with the Hue, Saturation, and lightness I managed to get the colour I desired on the hair.  

7. I noticed that the cutting was not the best. To fix this I could lower the opacity and slowly start to blend the mask away.

What has this post taught me?

From this task I learned how to effectively use the masking technique in order to change colours of certain parts of an image. Although I am happy with the results of my practise I think I should practise in developing my masking technique and will do another post on practising on different elements of the technique