Layer masks in CS5

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Macey J

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Jessica
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Hi All, fairly new member here, :wave:

Hopefully this description makes sense! I am using CS5 for editing and when I add a layer mask, it appears in the layer list as an icon that is a rectangle with a circle in, but what I want it to do is have the black or white background so that I can see at a glance what areas are masked. I am able to use the black and white settings using the brush tool, but for some reason it does not affect how the layer mask is displayed in the menu, it stays as a rectangle with a circle in. I have tried to start with making a black filled mask (Mac) using alt+layer button with no luck. And also, normal mode is selected with 100% opacity. Thanks all!
 
hold down alt on a mac to see the layer mask on a mac (you need to click on the mask first :))

Yes you can use brushes on it, but you should see that in the icon...maybe a tutorial on layers maybe handy...

....seem to remember there was a very generous person offering free PS tuition around here.....;)
 
So I selected the layer mask and held down alt to no avail, I am able to use the brush on the layer mask still but not able to see where it is selected... any PS tuition gratefully received!
 
Macey J said:
So I selected the layer mask and held down alt to no avail, I am able to use the brush on the layer mask still but not able to see where it is selected... any PS tuition gratefully received!
Click to expand...



Hi, you won't be able to mask the background layer so you should duplicate <ctrl><J> the layer, then after you've selected the duplicate you have to hold down the <ALT> key when you click on the rectangle with the circle. i.e. when you make the mask.
 
Yes, sorry, should have said I have created a copy of the background image and the mask is applied to the layer. So when I click on the layer mask thumbnail and then <ALT>, the black and white selections I have made appear on the main image but as block colour, and the thumbnail still appears as the rectangle with the circle in. I am trying to look for a way of being able to identify where my layer mask is being applied, and when I used to do this in Elements, the thumbnail would show the black/white selection. It seems weird to me that CS5 does not, maybe it doesn't have this function? I suspect it does, I just haven't hit the right buttons yet :-)
 
I'm not sure why you'd need that as the effective areas of the mask should be evident in the image. You can <ctrl> click the mask icon to make a selection of the masked area if that helps. I'm not familiar with elements so I'm not sure what can and can't be done with it.
Maybe the quick mask is more like what you describe?
Oh, you can adjust the density of the mask too. Select the <window ><mask> from the menubar. I can't remember the exact route whil I'm not sat at my pc. Any help?
 
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Drag out the layer palette untill theres a a bit of space underneath the background layer, right click in the blank space and select small thumbnails (or bigger if you need), your probably on the minimal display on the layers palette.

8282716224_e17d862f04.jpg
 
Macey J said:
Yes, sorry, should have said I have created a copy of the background image and the mask is applied to the layer. So when I click on the layer mask thumbnail and then <ALT>, the black and white selections I have made appear on the main image but as block colour, and the thumbnail still appears as the rectangle with the circle in. I am trying to look for a way of being able to identify where my layer mask is being applied, and when I used to do this in Elements, the thumbnail would show the black/white selection. It seems weird to me that CS5 does not, maybe it doesn't have this function? I suspect it does, I just haven't hit the right buttons yet :-)
Click to expand...

swanseamale47 said:
Drag out the layer palette untill theres a a bit of space underneath the background layer, right click in the blank space and select small thumbnails (or bigger if you need), your probably on the minimal display on the layers palette.
Click to expand...

Ahh, now I see what you were getting at. I'm sorry, I completely misunderstood what you were after. Thanks for the clarity of thought Wayne..
 
Hi All, I realise that if some of you haven't used both Elements and CS before my question might not be clear so I have a screen shot to illustrate. There is probably an easier way to post pictures within a thread but I have pasted the image in my gallery with a link until I figure that one out! : http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/ga...title=elements-screen-shot-layer-mask&cat=500
This is a screen shot from Elements 10 which shows how the black and white bits are featured on the layer mask thumbnail and I wondered if you could get the layer mask in CS5 to appear in the same way rather than as the rectangle with circle as is shown in the screen shot from Wayne (Thanks Wayne ;-) )
 
Ok please completely ignore that blonde moment, next time I will check out Wayne's instructions and implement before posting! That's exactly what I was looking for, and now I have it! Thankyou :-)
 
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