seebee
December 31st, 2006, 09:08 PM
Building on the Mask Paste video that's in the subscriber section, I find myself doing something interesting with that bit o' knowledge. :) I've started cutting & pasting the picture itself and using it to paste into a layer mask in order to selectively screen or multiply (or a number of other blend modes or adjustment layers) only part of a picture. This uses the brightness/light levels of the photo itself to determine how much an adjustment layer or blend mode will be affected.
For instance, if I have a picture where the dark areas could use lightening, but I don't want to do a full screen with another layer which would lighten the entire photo, I would copy the picture layer and get a mask on it (either by using Grant's Tools' mask or creating a clipping mask like the Mask Paste video shows). Then, control + a to select the background/picture layer, and control + c to copy that to the clipboard. I then hold Alt while clicking on the mask to make it appear in the main workspace, and finally Control + v to paste it onto the mask. (Your picture will appear as black & white since it's pasting onto a mask that only sees things in terms of black & white.)
In terms of the example I was referring to, if you want to lighten the dark areas of the original picture, you need to inverse the mask. That's because black, as we know, means "don't apply changes to the photo" and white means "apply changes". And so the dark areas of the photo are showing up closer to black on the mask, but since we want to apply changes to that area, we need them to be closer to white. Hence, the inverse of the photo, which you do by hitting control + i while the mask is active. (If you've still got it up from when you Alt + mousclicked on the mask thumbnail, you just need to apply the control + i at this time.) Now, click on another thumbnail to get out of viewing the mask in the workspace, and change the blend mode of your copied picture layer to "screen". You should see the dark areas of the picture lighten, but the white/light areas of the photo will be untouched or only lightly affected. And you can adjust the opacity of the layer as needed.
(Just to make it clear, or more confusing :D, depending on what you are doing, you may not need to inverse the mask. Just remember that whatever is white or close to it in the mask will be the most affected, so if you're working within the dark areas of your photo, you would likely need to inverse your mask.)
I'm sorry...I'm typing fast and this might not make a lot of sense. :D I want to get some examples up when I get a chance. The difference between doing this technique & just using levels should be that because the mask works in shades of gray, certain parts of the picture get affected more than others; it seems more selective and it's better for subtlety, for lack of a better word. I can use it to boost the saturation of the light areas more than the dark areas in a photo, for instance. Or, I just used it to boost the contrast & brightness only in the light areas of a black & white photo for better contrast and lighter skin tone, while leaving the dark areas pretty much unaffected. Well, it just seems like it's fun to do, anyway. Hope somebody has fun playing with this! :)
For instance, if I have a picture where the dark areas could use lightening, but I don't want to do a full screen with another layer which would lighten the entire photo, I would copy the picture layer and get a mask on it (either by using Grant's Tools' mask or creating a clipping mask like the Mask Paste video shows). Then, control + a to select the background/picture layer, and control + c to copy that to the clipboard. I then hold Alt while clicking on the mask to make it appear in the main workspace, and finally Control + v to paste it onto the mask. (Your picture will appear as black & white since it's pasting onto a mask that only sees things in terms of black & white.)
In terms of the example I was referring to, if you want to lighten the dark areas of the original picture, you need to inverse the mask. That's because black, as we know, means "don't apply changes to the photo" and white means "apply changes". And so the dark areas of the photo are showing up closer to black on the mask, but since we want to apply changes to that area, we need them to be closer to white. Hence, the inverse of the photo, which you do by hitting control + i while the mask is active. (If you've still got it up from when you Alt + mousclicked on the mask thumbnail, you just need to apply the control + i at this time.) Now, click on another thumbnail to get out of viewing the mask in the workspace, and change the blend mode of your copied picture layer to "screen". You should see the dark areas of the picture lighten, but the white/light areas of the photo will be untouched or only lightly affected. And you can adjust the opacity of the layer as needed.
(Just to make it clear, or more confusing :D, depending on what you are doing, you may not need to inverse the mask. Just remember that whatever is white or close to it in the mask will be the most affected, so if you're working within the dark areas of your photo, you would likely need to inverse your mask.)
I'm sorry...I'm typing fast and this might not make a lot of sense. :D I want to get some examples up when I get a chance. The difference between doing this technique & just using levels should be that because the mask works in shades of gray, certain parts of the picture get affected more than others; it seems more selective and it's better for subtlety, for lack of a better word. I can use it to boost the saturation of the light areas more than the dark areas in a photo, for instance. Or, I just used it to boost the contrast & brightness only in the light areas of a black & white photo for better contrast and lighter skin tone, while leaving the dark areas pretty much unaffected. Well, it just seems like it's fun to do, anyway. Hope somebody has fun playing with this! :)