Masking In Photoshop

Sometime all the elements in your photo don't perfectly work out. It might be a cloudy day or there might be unwanted items. By utilizing masking in Photoshop, you can easily replace a cloudy sky with a sunny sky, and remove or swap unwanted items in your photo!

1. You should have two layers. One that has the main part of the image you want visible (ex: coffee photo) and one with the image you want to pull an aspect of in (ex: new countertop)

2. The top layer should be the layer you are wanting to bring in (ex: new countertop) and will also be the layer with the mask applied.

3. The bottom layer will be the main image we are altering (ex: coffee photo).

4. Make sure the top layer is selected and click the Add Layer Mask icon/button at the bottom of the layers panel. This will add a box off to the side of the preview image on that layer. If the box is white/whatever is white, that indicates things you can see. If the box is black/whatever is black, that indicates things you can’t see.

5. Click on the white or black box next to the preview image on that layer and click Command + I to change between filling the box with black or white. You will want to make sure the box is black.

6. Click B or the Brush Tool icon in the toolbar and adjust your brush settings as needed.

7. Make sure the black layer mask box is selected begin painting the area of the photo that you want to make visible.

8. To see a detailed/simplified area of where you have painted you can click and hold Option and then click on the layer mask box. This can make it easier to clean up small areas.

9. If you’ve made an area visible that you didn’t want to make visible, invert the white color fill box to black in the toolbar by clicking the double arrow and then paint back over that area.