Quick mask in Photoshop. Working with masks in Photoshop Where is the quick mask mode in Photoshop?
Greetings, friends. In today's lesson I will talk about masks in photoshop. What is a mask in Photoshop, and how does it work? To answer this question, just imagine what happens when a person puts on a mask? That's right, the mask covers the face. This is roughly how it works mask in photoshop— closes all underlying layers, leaving visible only those areas where it is transparent. This allows you to achieve smooth transitions between different parts of one or several images. Masks are widely used in creating collages and processing photographs.
To get you started, I'll show you a few examples of using masks in Photoshop:
The planet was added using a simple mask.
And here there are only 2 layers - the original and the decolorized image, a mask was applied to the decolorized image, and one of the pomegranate pieces was “wiped” on it.
Everything is the same here - I took 3 images from a Ferrari and used a mask to hide the background.
As you can see, for those who use masks in Photoshop, an uncultivated field of experimentation opens up.
Photoshop allows you to work with 4 types of masks - Layer Mask, Vector Mask, Clipping Mask and Quick Mask, which is not really a mask... but more on that later :)
All masks in photoshop work with shades of gray (including black and white). Black color on the mask is a completely transparent area, white is opaque. Gray is used to impart varying degrees of transparency. The closer the gray is to black, the more transparent the area will be.
Interaction with masks is carried out using the tools, Gradient (Gradient), Paint Bucket Tool (Fill). You can also use the Mixer Brush Tool and Pecil (Pencil), but this is exotic and works on the same principle.
It is worth noting that the mask does not remove part of the image, but hides it. This has its pros and cons. The advantage is that you can always change the color to white and return the hidden part of the image. The downside is that the file size increases, so before saving, do Layer -> Layer Mask -> Apply
Layer masks in Photoshop
Let's start looking at a layer mask in Photoshop using a specific example. I found a photo of a soap bubble on the Internet:
You need to place this bubble on a different background. For example this one:
Copy the photo of a soap bubble onto the landscape photo, and use Free Warp (Ctrl+T) to make the bubble a little smaller:
The preparations are complete, now let's deal with the masks.
The section in the Layer menu is responsible for managing masks in Photoshop:
Now I will talk about ways to create a layer mask in Photoshop:
- Reveal All creates an open mask. This means that the mask is filled with white, i.e. the image is completely opaque. In order to hide part of the image, you need to start drawing over it in black. Let's try.
So, click Layer -> Layer Mask -> Reveal All. Notice that a white rectangle has appeared in the Layers panel to the right of the image thumbnail. This is the layer mask:
If you click on the image thumbnail on the left, it will be edited; you can return to editing the mask by clicking on the rectangle with the mask thumbnail. Remember this so that later the question does not arise - why is there a mask, but the brush does not edit it.
Take a soft black brush and begin to paint the background of the photo with a soap bubble:
The result was not very neat, but the main thing is that you understand the principle. If you still want to get a high-quality result, then first select the bubble, then invert the selection (Shift+Ctrl+I) and boldly paint over the background, without being afraid to hide the edges of the soap bubble:
If you still hid something that you didn’t want, it doesn’t matter, change the color to white and restore the hidden part of the image.
Let's now see what happens if we paint the bubble gray (I took #a1a1a1):
The bubble became semi-transparent. Do you already feel the power of masks in Photoshop? This is just the beginning, let's move on.
— The Hide All layer mask method hides the entire image behind a black mask. You will “develop the image” on the layer with the mask using a white brush.
Thus, you can solve the problem with a soap bubble with just one click of a white soft brush:
— Reveal Selection hides everything except the selected area:
— Hide Selection, on the contrary, hides the selected area:
— From Transparency creates a mask without taking into account invisible areas.
There is also a button in the Layers panel for creating a layer mask using the Reveal Selection method:
Filling a mask in Photoshop with a gradient
I have shown this technique many times already in Photoshop tutorials on this site. It consists of applying a gradient to the layer mask. Let's say there is an image on one of the layers, part of which should smoothly disappear:
Create a mask and fill it with a black and white radial gradient. We get the following result:
Vector masks in Photoshop
Next type masks in photoshop is a vector mask. Like any other vector, a vector mask differs from a regular raster mask in the flexibility of customizing its shape thanks to curves and immunity from loss of quality when scaling.
To make it easier for you to understand the essence of working with vector masks, I recommend reading the lesson ““, in which I examine the main Photoshop tool for working with vector shapes.
Vector masks are created in exactly the same way as raster masks and work on the same principle, with the only difference being that they are controlled with vector tools, for example the Pen Tool:
Here we see a new Current Path item - it creates a mask along an existing vector path. Let's take a closer look at this. I took the tattoo image and outlined it using the Pen Tool:
And applied Layer – Vector Mask -> Current Path:
In principle, that’s all, there are no more differences between vector and raster masks in Photoshop. Use vector masks where precision is needed: creating logos, website layouts and other similar things.
Two masks in Photoshop
Photoshop makes it possible to use two masks at once - raster and vector. This is necessary primarily for user convenience.
Look at the following example:
I created a vector path that outlines the starfish. Then I converted it to a vector mask, and at the same time created a raster mask. As you can see, there are now 2 layer masks in the Layers panel. On the left is raster, and on the right is vector. Now if I want to make the middle and edges of the star a little transparent, I'll switch to the raster mask and paint the desired areas with a gray brush:
And at any time I can return to editing the vector and raster masks. Convenient, isn't it? This feature especially helps when creating a website layout, when there are many layers, and sometimes you need to go back and edit the shape, color or transparency of an element.
Clipping Mask in Photoshop
The next type of mask in Photoshop is Clipping Mask. It crops the image to which it is applied using the underlying path or mask:
In the example presented, a regular vector shape was created on the bottom layer using the Ellipse Tool (Ellipse), and on top of it was an image with a horse, to which a Clipping Mask was applied. Try to do something similar, and move the shape on the bottom layer - the image will “appear” in the place where the shape is located.
Actions with masks in Photoshop
Masks in Photoshop can be moved outside of the image. Now I will show you how to do this. Take any image and apply some kind of mask to it:
Now click on the chain icon between the mask and the layer thumbnail. Now you can move the mask using the regular Move Tool.
Masks in Photoshop can also be copied to another layer. Create a new layer (Shift+Ctrl+N), fill it with some color, hold Alt and drag the mask thumbnail onto the newly created layer:
Quick mask in Photoshop
Let's look at the last type of mask in Photoshop - the quick mask. As I said at the beginning, this is not exactly a mask, it is a selection tool that has a similar type of operation to masks. The quick mask is located in the toolbar:
But I recommend calling it using the Q shortcut key. Also, if you double-click on the quick mask icon, settings will appear that allow you to change the color of the mask. This is necessary solely for convenience, because... By default, the mask has a translucent red color, and if you select a red image, this will not be very convenient.
Now we’ll try to use a quick mask to highlight this gorgeous dog :)
Press Q, grab a hard opaque brush and start painting:
Please note that your main color should be black. If you make a mistake and paint over something unnecessary, select white (press X with the standard color layout) and thus erase the unnecessary area of the mask. When you're done painting, press Q again. That's it, the selection is ready:
This is where we will finish our review. masks in photoshop. I hope you learned a lot from this Photoshop lesson, and from now on working with masks in Photoshop will not cause you any difficulty.
Ask questions in the comments, share your impressions and share this lesson with your friends. I say goodbye to you until we meet again on our website and wish you creative success 😉
Some image, and . Then go to the background layer and desaturate it using the menu Image - Adjustments - Desaturate . This command has no parameters, but simply makes the image black and white. To verify this, you can turn off the top layer and look at the background layer.
Now select the top layer and select the selection tool Rectangular area . Select some significant part of the image. After that, on the layers palette, click the icon Add a layer mask . This icon is located at the bottom of the palette, and looks like a white circle in a gray rectangle. Click the icon and another icon appears in front of the layer name. In this icon, the selected area is marked in white. To view the mask image, press the key Alt, and while holding it, click on this icon. You will see that the mask is black and white. In the white area you will see the top layer, in the black area you will see the bottom layer.
The mask image itself is hidden in the additional channel. You can see it if you open the Channel Palette. The channel is called a mask channel, or alpha channel. You can perform some actions with this channel, for example, blur the edges of the white area. Highlight a channel and select from the menu Filter - Blur - Gaussian Blur
. The edges of the colored area in the image will no longer be as sharp. And if you look at the mask again by clicking on its mask icon in the layers palette, and at the same time clicking Alt, then you will see that gray color has appeared at the edges of the white color. The gray color in the mask makes the top layer translucent. The darker the color, the more transparent the layer.
Now cancel the Gaussian blur via the menu Editing - Cancel , so that the edges of the colored area in the image become clear again. Let's now make a frame.
Double click to the right of the layer name to open the window Layer Style. Select an item Stroke, and start editing it. Select the stroke color white. Make the borders thicker, and make the position Inside so that the corners are sharp. Also select Shadow, and adjust its parameters, for example, lighting 135 degrees, size 20 and offset 40.
Now select the background layer, go to Image - Adjustments - Brightness/Contrast , and turn up the brightness.
You will get quite an interesting picture. All that remains is to merge all the layers into one by right-clicking on the layer name and selecting the Flatten command. And save the image in JPG format.
Quick mask in Photoshop
This is an operating mode that can be switched to by clicking the corresponding icon at the bottom of the toolbar. The icon looks like a white circle on a gray rectangle. You can also press the key Q, which is a switch between normal mode and quick mask mode.
Select any area of the image in normal mode and switch to quick mask mode. What is not included in the selected area is filled with translucent red color. This is the default mode of operation of the quick mask in Photoshop. To change the mode, double-click on the quick mask icon, and in the dialog box that appears, change the settings to some others, for example, make the parameter Show highlighted areas in color .
By the quick mask icon on the toolbar you can determine what the mask will hide - the current layer in the selected areas or unselected ones. If the circle is gray on a white background, the mask will hide the selected areas; if the circle is white on a gray background, the mask will hide the unselected areas. Depending on your needs, you will use the mode you need.
Just like with the mask, when you switch to quick mask mode, an alpha channel will appear in the channels palette.
Now cancel quick mask mode, remove selection, select tool Brush, and set the colors in the Layers palette to black and white. After that, double-click on the quick mask icon and select Show selected areas in color in the dialog box. Enable quick mask mode. Now try painting with a black brush. Instead of black, you will see red - the color of the mask. You can use a white eraser to remove excess from what you have drawn.
After drawing, turn off the quick mask mode, and you will see the selected area where the red color was. Thus, by drawing in Quick Mask mode, you can select what you need, and very precisely. In addition, you can draw not with black, but with gray, and then the selection will be partial.
Video on how to apply a mask in Photoshop to create an image with a frame
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Now you can consider a more professional tool for working with selected areas - masks. Gradient masks.
We are already quite familiar with selections and have learned how to work with selected areas. Now you can consider a more professional tool for working with selected areas - masks. Why are masks needed at all? Are the selection tools we’ve studied really not capable of doing something? The fact is that all the previously discussed methods allow you to select areas of arbitrary shape, but none of them can take into account differences in focusing levels. Undoubtedly, you have seen collages in which one volume smoothly flows into another. It is with the help of masks that such transition effects are created. In addition, masks allow you to select an arbitrary area or adjust an existing one. Let's get acquainted with the most interesting and powerful Photoshop tool.
The essence of masks is as follows: if one part of the image is selected and we can only work with it, then the remaining part of the image is called masked, i.e. covered with a mask. The mask can be compared to the black paper that photographers use to cover part of the photo paper when printing photographs. This is done so that the light from the enlarger hits only certain areas of the paper and does not affect those areas that the photographer covered with black paper. The mask can be schematically represented as follows.
- This is a selection outline presented in grayscale. Wherein:
- Selected areas appear in white.
- Unselected areas are shown in black.
- Partially selected areas appear in shades of gray. The more an area is selected, the lighter its mask. Accordingly, almost unselected areas are represented in dark gray.
Quick Mask- A selection view in which selected areas retain their original color and unselected areas are covered with a translucent, solid-color mask. By default it is red.
It would be logical to assume that if we can specify the selected area, then we can also specify the masked area. In Photoshop, you can literally draw a mask using any drawing tool. Very often, a mask is an indispensable highlighting tool. Look at the photo. Even the Magnetic Lasso and Magic Wand tools will go crazy if you force them to select a white shape on a white background. I suggest using a mask to highlight the girl’s figure in the document 
photo.jpg. To do this you need to do the following:
The question arises: why did we do all this if in the end everything except what was needed was selected? Then, now it is enough to invert the selection with the command Inverse menu Select, so that the girl’s figure is selected. I would like to note that masks are the shortest way to solve complex problems of selecting areas like this one.
The color and transparency of the created mask can be adjusted at your own discretion. To configure these parameters, just double-click on the button to switch to quick mask mode. 
The mask settings are provided solely for your convenience. The color you use to mark the masked area does not affect the image, and the transparency changes only so that you can see what you are covering with the mask. Let's look at the action of the switches in the section Color Indicates(color indication). By default, red indicates the masked area. This matches the switch Masked Areas(masked area). If you want the color to indicate the selected area, switch the checkbox to (selected area). Again, this is a matter of personal habits and convenience. Let's look at this setting with an example. Select a rectangular area on any image. Switch to quick mask mode by pressing or clicking on the corresponding icon on the tool palette. Approximately the following picture will appear in the document window: 
Double-click on the icon to switch to quick mask mode. In the Quick Mask Settings dialog box that appears, switch the Color Indicates section to . The picture will instantly change and you will see the following: 
Pay attention to the icon for switching to quick mask mode. Depending on the setting, it changes its appearance, showing which setting is currently enabled. Once again, I insistently draw your attention to the fact that mask and selection (masked area and selected area) are two sides of the same coin. All the area that is not selected is masked, and all the unmasked area is selected. The settings discussed above are solely for your convenience.
Please note that the mask is drawn in black and erased with white or an eraser. All other colors in Quick Mask mode are displayed as grayscale (depending on their brightness). An interesting aspect is that the lighter the color (on the gray scale), the more transparent the selected area will be. The transparency will also be special, namely, the same as when executing the Feather command. Make sure of this as follows.
Gradient masks.
Let's try to get acquainted with the principle of creating gradient masks. As discussed above, a mask can add transparency to a selected area. Let's use this to create a beautiful effect called a gradient mask. The meaning of this action lies in the possibility of creating a mask with any drawing tool and in the peculiarities of interpreting the gray color that fills the mask as translucent. In other words, one image will be superimposed on another with gradient transparency. Let's do the preparatory work with the drawing. According to my plan, I need to create a mirage in the form of an eagle’s head dissolving into the clouds. Now let's move on to the second document and try to select the eagle's head not just like that, but through a gradient mask. For this: 
In the lower right corner I pasted part of the Flower.psd image from the Samples folder. This part also fades into the background in a gradient manner. To create this effect, I filled a quick mask with a linear gradient.
Before we look at the best way to soften edges, let's quickly look at Photoshop's standard edge feathering tool. Go to the main menu tab Selection --> Modification --> Feathering (Select --> Modify --> Feather). This action opens the tool's dialog box where you can enter a Feather Radius value in pixels:
This is all very well, but the problem arises: how do I know the exact value to enter this radius? But I need exactly the exact value, because... I'm going to create a smooth transition between the selected area and the white background below it.
All I can do in this case is to select the value at random. First, I'll enter a value of 30 pixels, this value is nothing more than my guess.
To apply the feathering action, press the OK button and look at the working document window. What has changed there? Practically nothing, except for the fact that the oval has become a little smaller:
In fact, feathering now appears at the border of the selected area, but Photoshop’s standard “ant track” simply does not show this.
The reason is that the border is only shown around pixels that are at least 50% selected. So, Photoshop tells us something like: " The most I can tell you is that any of the pixels that are within the selection outline are more than 50% selected. I wanted to give more information, but I'm sorry, I can't, because I'm in trouble".
In order to immediately have visual information about shading the edge of the selected area, you need the Quick Mask tool.
Using the Quick Mask
To cancel edge feathering, press Ctrl+Z and launch the Quick Mask tool, its icon is located at the bottom of the toolbar. A single press switches us to the quick mask mode, a second press switches us back to normal mode. There is another way to enter the "Quick Mask" mode, this is by pressing the "Q" key on the keyboard:
So, click on the icon to switch to this mode and see that the unselected area of the image is highlighted in red. In other words, areas of the image not included in the selected area highlighted red, and the areas of the image that are included in the selection are not highlighted. We can see this perfectly in the working document window:
The Quick Mask mode doesn't just let us see our choices. It also allows you to edit the selection in ways that are not possible with standard selection tools. For example, you can apply any of Photoshop's blend filters!
At this point, the transition between the selected and unselected areas is sharp, which means that we have sharp edges of the areas. To blur them, I use the Gaussian Blur filter.
To activate it, go to the main menu tab Filter --> Blur --> Gaussian Blur (Filter --> Blur --> Gaussian Blur). A filter dialog box will open; move the radius slider in it and observe the changes in the working document window. As you begin to move the slider, you will see that the edges of the quick mask start to soften. The further you drag the radius slider, the more blurred the edges will be. There is no longer any need to guess what is happening to the edges, we see it in real time as we move the slider. In the figure I have given an example of two blur radius values. Now I can clearly see that in my case the optimal radius is 25 pixels:
After you have selected the optimal radius value, click OK in the filter working window. And to apply the “Quick Mask” action, click on its icon at the bottom of the toolbar, or press the “Q” key.
This action returns us to our standard selection display, which again shows no sign of edge blur:
But in fact, we have everything ready. The only remaining problem is that we currently have the wrong part of the image selected. We need an external one, but the internal one is selected. Let's swap them (invert) by pressing the key combination Ctrl+Shift+I.
Now we need to delete the selected area; at the moment it is the part of the image outside the contour. To do this, press the Delete key. Let's look at the picture:
Almost done. All that remains is to remove the “running ants”; to do this, press Ctrl+D. Well, that's all, we got the finished result:
If you prefer to customize or even create selections by painting with a brush, no problem. In fact, you can create a selection from scratch using this method. Go to mode and you'll find that all of Photoshop's painting tools (even filters) are ready to help you adjust the selection. This mode allows you to work on a selected area using almost any tool you want.
To go to the mask, click the button at the bottom of the toolbar, which looks like a circle inscribed in a square, or press the Q key. This will check if you have an active selection. If yes, Photoshop will set a red overlay to everything except it (if not, you won't see any changes). This color design makes it easier to visually edit the selection using drawing.
- Deselect part of the selection, in other words, to add an area to the mask, and then paint over the area.
- Expand the selection by coloring what you want to add in white (you may need to press the X key to swap the color indicators).
- Create a soft-edged or translucent selection by coloring it gray. For example, painting with gray at 50 percent (reduce the opacity of the black brush to 50 percent in the Tools panel) will create a half-transparent selection.
A similar effect can be created by painting with a soft bristle brush. All the usual tricks with tools and documents work in quick mask mode: you can zoom in or out by pressing Ctrl++ or Ctrl+-. Press and hold the Spacebar to move around the document once you zoom in and use any of the selection tools. Even tools and work in this mode. You can also fill the entire mask or selection with black or white. To create interesting edges, you can apply filters in this mode, or use the Gradient tool set to a black and white gradient to create a desaturated effect.
When you're done making adjustments, press the Q key to exit mask mode, which will cause "marching ants" to appear so you can see the selection you just edited.
Let's look at an example of using the mode.
1. Open the image that you want to select. On the mask, as you can see, there is a shadow that we don't need. Let's try to get rid of it.
2. Select our silver background using the tool. We see that the shadow has been inseparably highlighted along with our mask.
3. Go to Quick Mask mode. Photoshop will leave the selection in full color (in this case, silver) and place a red overlay on top of everything else. Now you can quickly clear the shadow. Use the brush tool set to paint with black or white.
4. When you are done removing the shadow, exit this mode by clicking on the mask icon in the toolbar or pressing the Q key. You will see the edited selection marked with “marching ants”
Changing the color of the quick mask
Why is the quick mask red? Can I change the color to another? And why, when the mask is activated, does it highlight unselected areas? Can I select highlighted areas instead?
First, a little history: It's red by default, just like its real-world equivalent, red camouflage film, which came in sheets like paper. Long ago, before the invention of computer layout, this red plastic was cut with X-Acto knives and placed over parts of the image that needed to be hidden. Because the printing presses did not react to plastic, the image fragments covered by it did not appear in the printed edition. It was a neat trick back then.
Printing technology has come a long way since then - you don't need X-Acto knives when you have Photoshop.
And since you're working with modern printers rather than old-fashioned printing presses, you don't have to use a red mask, and can change the color to whatever you want (which comes in handy when the area you're trying to highlight contains red). So, if the red overlay doesn't suit you, with the Quick Mask tool activated, double-click on the button with the circle inscribed in the square at the bottom of the toolbar. In the Options dialog box that opens, click on the color indicator and select any color you like from the palette that appears. You can also make the overlay more or less intense by changing the Opacity setting in this dialog box.
And you can use Quick Mask to mark selected areas instead of unselected ones. Open the Options dialog box and set the switch in the Color Indicates group to Selected Areas, and then click OK.
If you notice an error in the text, select it and press Ctrl + Enter. Thank you!