Creating Masks with Threshold Adjustments
Liz turned a happy accident into a new technique for creating masks inside Photoshop Elements. (For more, see her blog post, “A Masking Trick from a Happy Accident.”
Here is a quick rundown of Liz’s basic steps:
- Create a copy of the background layer (Ctrl-J/Mac: Cmd J).
- Create a Threshold adjustment layer (Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Threshold) and adjust so that there is a good line defining the edge between sky and mountains.
- Select both the adjustment layer and the copied layer (select one, press Shift and select the other). Then, merge them (Ctrl-E/Mac: Cmd-E).
- Press D to set the background and foreground to their default colors.
- With a brush (B), paint out any white that is in the mountain portion of the merged layer.
- Switch background and foreground (X) and paint out any black that is in the sky portion.
- With the magic wand (W), select the black portion of the merged layer.
- Hide the merged layer by clicking on the eye next to the layer.
- Create a new Hue/Saturation layer (Layer>New Adjust Layer>Hue/Saturation) and adjust as desired.
If the mask is revealing the adjustment in the sky, but you wanted it for the hills, click on the mask for the Hue/Saturation layer and press Ctrl-I (Mac: Cmd-I). Then, adjust as desired.
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Related Tags: layer masks, masking, threshold adjustment layer
James
October 29, 2010 at 8:29 am
The video now works great, all around.
I’ve tried this masking technique on a couple of photos and WOW, what a great way to mask those detailed areas!
Thanks for sharing, Liz!
Clarke
October 30, 2010 at 10:37 am
Liz…thanks so much for an imaginative and useful technique. I could have used this a thousand times in the past!! Clarke
Charlotte
October 31, 2010 at 1:16 pm
Very good informative tutorial. I will be trying it out soon. Thanks very much!
Charlotte
Dina
November 2, 2010 at 10:14 am
Nice idea. But wouldn’t it have been easier to just select the white in the sky just before creating the first Hue/Saturation adjustment layer. This would have avoided the first inverse of the mask?
Joyce
November 4, 2010 at 10:38 am
This was very interesting. Sure would like to se an article on this in the magazine.
Bob
November 6, 2010 at 7:28 pm
Enjoyed your video and have saved it for future reference. Thanks for the tip.
Laura
November 9, 2010 at 2:36 pm
This sounds like it might be a good technique for get the fringes of hair on a person when you’re trying to make him or her stand out, no?
Kenneth
December 4, 2010 at 6:20 pm
Marvelous technique! Tried on several intricate photos needing adjustments. This technique saved me huge amount of selection time. Truly a Godsend. Thanks…..:-)
Gary
December 7, 2010 at 10:32 pm
Please put the 9 steps listed by Liz in the original Oct 28 blog into a cheatsheet link to be consistent with other video tutorials.
This is a great technique. It’s similar to what Capture NX2 does automatically in creating masks.
Billy
January 30, 2011 at 11:22 pm
Thank you for the tutorial – one of the most useful I have seen so far. Makes Touching up dreary photo’s a breeze.
Lisa
March 27, 2011 at 8:44 pm
This is a masterful technique which I’ve now used dozens of times. One of the most clever techniques I’ve seen anyone on this website produce. Thank you Liz.