About Masks (Photoshop); Creating Temporary Masks In Quick Mask Mode; (Photoshop) - Adobe PHOTOSHOP 6.0 Manual

About masks (Photoshop)

Masks let you isolate and protect areas of an image
as you apply color changes, filters, or other effects
to the rest of the image. When you select part of an
image, the area that is not selected is "masked" or
protected from editing. You can also use masks for
complex image editing such as gradually applying
color or filter effects to an image.
In addition, masks let you save and reuse time-
consuming selections as alpha channels. (Alpha
channels can be converted to selections and then
used for image editing.) Because masks are stored
as 8-bit grayscale channels, you can refine and
edit them using the full array of painting and
editing tools.
When a mask channel is selected in the Channels
palette, foreground and background colors appear
as grayscale values. (See "Creating temporary
masks in Quick Mask mode (Photoshop)" on
page 197.)
A
B
A. Opaque mask used to protect the background and color
the shell. B. Opaque mask used to protect the shell and color
the background. C. Semitransparent mask used to color the
background and part of the shell.
In Photoshop, you can create masks, all stored
at least temporarily as grayscale channels, in the
following ways:
Quick Mask mode lets you create and view a
•
temporary mask for an image. Temporary masks
are useful when you don't want to save the mask
for later use. (See "Creating temporary masks in
Quick Mask mode (Photoshop)" on page 197.)
Alpha channels let you save and load a selection
•
to be used as a mask. (See "Storing masks in alpha
channels" on page 199.)
Layer masks and layer clipping paths let you
•
produce a mix of soft and hard masking edges on
the same layer. By making changes to the layer
mask or the layer clipping path, you can apply a
variety of special effects. (See "Hiding portions of
a layer" on page 237.)
Creating temporary masks in
Quick Mask mode (Photoshop)
Quick Mask mode lets you edit any selection as a
mask without using the Channels palette and
while viewing your image. The advantage of
editing your selection as a mask is that you can use
almost any Photoshop tool or filter to modify the
C
mask. For example, if you create a rectangular
selection with the marquee tool, you can enter
Quick Mask mode and use the paintbrush to
extend or contract the selection, or you can use a
filter to distort the edges of the selection. You can
also use selection tools, because the quick mask is
not a selection.
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User Guide