By Charlotte Reeves

Layer Masks

Understanding layers is an essential Photoshop skill. We've had so many requests for this topic that I've created a special 5-part Editing Toolbox series focusing on everything you need to know as a pet photographer, about Photoshop layers.

In this fourth episode, we tackle a much-requested topic - how to work with masks in Photoshop. We'll talk about why and when you need to use them, how to use them and an easy mantra you can use to remember how they work. We'll also talk about masking groups, and the one type of mask you don't ever want to use!

Feel free to skip through the video using the chapter links below, or watch from start to finish for a complete overview.

0:00 Introduction

0:34 What is a mask?

0:56 The Mask Mantra

1:44 Black conceals

2:25 Selective masking

4:36 Re-using masks

5:10 Moving (stealing) a mask

5:53 Copying a mask

7:48 Deleting or disabling masks

8:54 Vector masks - avoid!

Watch the rest of the videos in this free 5 part series: 

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

If you like these quick tutorials, you'll love our premium Unleashed Edits - full start-to-finish editing tutorials in Lightroom and Photoshop. These are available in our membership (along with a tonne of amazing pet photography education). We hope to see you there!