Adobe Photoshop 101 - Layer Masks

Alright, so part 2 of my Adobe Photoshop 101 video series is up and it's all about Masks. They keep getting longer, maybe I should speak faster but I just have so much to say. I want to make sure, especially for those of you just starting out that everything is clear. With a strong foundation your skills will quickly rise.

Before we begin, I just want to point out that if you are thinking of purchasing Adobe Photoshop or anything else, then please click on the bhphoto banner and purchase it. This helps us greatly maintain this website up and running!

Ok, let's begin...Masks to me, and I'm sure a lot of other people, are the most important part of Photoshop. You can get rid of many of the features and no problemo, you get rid of Masks and I QUIT!

With masks you have the ability to show or hide certain parts of a layer. This is extremely important, I use it to show only the areas that I want to show, for example sharpening, changing color, softening skin...you name it, there is a mask on it.

When you are first starting masks can be a little confusing, even though they aren't. The basics are extremely basic. They are a stencil that sits on top of a layer. By painting on the mask with the gray scale you choose how much of that layer is visible. You paint with White on the Mask to show or REVEAL the layer and you paint with Black on the Mask to hide or Conceal the layer! The grays in between the white and black are going to graduate your opacity. If you paint with 50% gray, the Mask will be 50% transparent and so on! It really is that basic..

One of the best realizations of my Photoshopic life was when I realized how to use Masks and how versatile they can be. You really need to open your mind and it will all fall into place. A mask is just a black and white layer, the lighter I paint the more of the layer it's on shows through!
In any case, if you have any questions or comments, as always leave them below!

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Adobe Photoshop 101 - Layers!

In honor of Photoshop World (If you need a FREE EXPO PASS CLICK HERE) , I decided to do a video series about Adobe Photoshop. I am starting with Photoshop 101 and will progress all the way up to advanced! The first video that is part of this Photoshop 101 series is all about Layers. I do my best to explain what layers are and how they work. It's a little complicated to get it all into a 12 minute video, but as you progress into Photoshopland you will realize that everything works together and until you see all of the videos it might not make complete sense!

Layers is one of the main reasons I have not adopted to a Lightroom Only Workflow. Don't get me wrong, Lightroom is extremely powerful but as far as retouching goes, Photoshop is still king!

If you have any questions, or something doesn't make sense, simply leave a comment! 

As always, TELL EVERYONE ABOUT US!

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Sharpening has got to be one of the most important parts of your digital workflow! Every image, and I mean every digital image has to be sharpened! Whether you shot it in Raw, Jpeg or scanned it in, it has to go through sharpening to get the best out of the image. As important as sharpening is to an image, it can also cause it's demise! If you don't do it right, you just killed the image. In this long ass tutorial I try to explain how sharpening works. I think it's important to know how something works so that you can use it correctly. In total lightenupandshoot style, I break it down as easily as I could. I might do a recap later if I get too many people who didn't understand!

In any case, enjoy the video, sorry it took so long but it's the best I could do!

Alright folks, a quick...ok this one is definitely not quick, tutorial on how I convert to Black and White when it truly matters. What I mean by that is that all my black and white conversions, better yet, all of my retouching is not all done on the same level. The time I spend in front of the computer will depend on two things, how much was I paid and do I love this image! They go hand in hand, the more I get paid the more I love the image!

This video will show you my technique when I have a lot of love for the image! It takes much longer than just running it through lightroom or some plugin, but this is a work of love remember!

CLICK READ MORE TO SEE THE IMAGES!