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Quick masks are a handy little Photoshop-
feature that many people don’t even know about. If you’ve never
heard of quick masks, this article is going to show you how to
use the basic features of the feature.
When you want to use a mask in a more
traditional way, use a quick mask. It works very similarly to
the way a mask in the real world works. Say you were painting a
room and you didn’t want to get paint on the trim. You would use
tape right – masking tape? Quick masks act very much the same
way. Rather than create a mask layer, that works to show or not
show a layer below it using an alpha channel, quick mask is much
more intuitive to understand. Let’s show an example.
I am going to start with this basic shape that
Photoshop 7 ships with. I have this shape on its own layer. To
enter the quick mask mode, simply hit the letter Q on your
keyboard. You won’t see anything happen, but your history
palette will show that you have entered quick mask mode.
Now using the default color swatches (black and
white), select your gradient tool and swipe a gradient from the
upper left hand corner to the lower right.
Notice how the pink gradient appears after you
do this. This is the mask. Think of it as masking tape with
holes in it. The gradient acts as a way to go from small holes
to large holes. So if you were painting, more paint would go
through the large holes than the small holes and you would get a
gradient effect with your paint.
Now to exit quick mask mode, hit the Q key
again. Photoshop will give you a selection based on your quick
mask. I am going to use my mask to make a split-screen effect
with my flower. I simply go Image -> Adjustments ->Hue and
Saturation. Make the necessary changes, and you can see the
result.
Now you can deselect the image area and you are
done. It’s as easy as that. The best part about this is that you
don’t have to take all that masking tape off after you get done!
Now I encourage you to experiment with this and
see what you can do with it. Try different filters while you are
in quick mask mode and you will get interesting effects. Talk to
you soon. |