masking

UPDATE: The good folks at lynda.com have replaced the bad old corrupted version of this video with a new one that plays properly. Thanks to everyone who let me know that the old one was messed up!

Masking an image is like poking a hole in the background to reveal the foreground. I use this analogy because A) I'm growing a bit weary of the "white reveals, black conceals" line; B) I'm just coming off a ski vacation in Big Sky, Montana, at the end of which I wiped out on a bunch of rocks at the top of the 11,166-foot Lone Peak (see diagram) and poked a purple-looking hole in my knee; and C) masking is exactly like that, except not so purple. Read more » 

As regulars to this weekly podcast know, Photoshop Top 40 is a reverse-order countdown of what I consider to be the best, most essential, can't-live-without-'em features in all of Photoshop. Some are sweet, some are sexy, some are sizzling cool. And then there's this one: the gradient tool.

I mean, every program offers a gradient tool, right? But Photoshop's is special. Not only can you paint a soft transition from black to white, or between any two or more colors for that matter. But you can also soften the transition from one image to another. The gradient tool fades, swipes, tapers, and more. It is, simply put, one of Photoshop's simplest and most powerful masking functions. Read more » 

I have returned from Southern France. And with the exception of a few exciting airport debacles--never ever try to return your car to the "French sector" of the Geneva International Airport!--I had a great time. Avignon, Les Baux-de-Provence, Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer. Mouth-watering cheeses, world-class wines, and chocolates like you've never tasted. Plus everyone's super polite and the speed limit is >80 mph. You can't get a decent martini, but I did manage to parlay a glass of 15-year Laphroaig, which'll tide me over in a pinch.

In the meantime, I'm in Toronto. In fact, this very day I'm teaching a full-day, super-intensive Channels & Masks seminar at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, at which every attendee gets a copy of my book Photoshop CS4 Channels & Masks One-on-One.

So it's only fitting that today's feature is Photoshop's most successful automated masking function, Color Range. To say it's good is an understatement. Like a Châteauneuf-du-Pape wine, it is soigné. Check out the free high-quality streaming video to learn more. Read more » 

If you know anything about Photoshop's brush tool, you know it paints smooth lines in the foreground color. You can control its behavior to the nth degree from the options bar and Brushes palette. And it responds to pressure-sensitive input.

Those attributes alone would earn it a place in the coveted Photoshop Top 40. The fact that it also excels as a masking tool merely cements the deal. Read more » 

If you're anything like me, you just finished celebrating Labor Day by not laboring in the least. Happily, the same cannot be said of Photoshop Top 40. Tuesday after Tuesday, this proud and relentless podcast marches on.

Fittingly, today marks Feature #32, The Pen Tool, one of the most powerful but labor-intensive tools in all of Photoshop. Newbies select images with the likes of the quick select and magic wand tools. Both are highly automated, but they rarely work. Experts use the pen tool. It takes some work to master, but it always works in return. In other words, learn to use the pen tool and you'll be prepared for any masking job. Read more »