Quick Tip – Use Layer Masks to Erase in Photoshop

Mar 05, 2009
26 Comments
Tutorials

Quick Tip – Use Layer Masks to Erase in Photoshop

We’ve all had to work with photos that need to be cut down and have parts removed. Do you reach for the Eraser tool first? If so, you’re locking yourself in to changes.

Here’s a less destructive alternative using layer masks.

Erasing is Destructive

Sure, it may be nice for a quick fix, but erasing completely removes content from play. The only way to retrieve it is through backtracking the history panel or keeping the history brush handy.

But how many of us are perfect the first time? That’s the reason I like web design so much. Nobody will penalize you if mistakes are made at first. It’s your ability to fix them that matters.

Using the eraser makes it harder to go back and make changes after the fact. How do we get around this? The answer lies in layer masks.

Masks Just Hide the Content

Let’s use this picture I took last year of a flock of geese to demonstrate. The solid blue background will make removing the background much easier.

We’ll start by using the magic wand tool to select the sky background.

Masking Marquee

Ordinarily, pressing the delete key would take care of the background just fine. We want to avoid destructive erasing though. Instead, we’re going to take a couple more steps to make it easier. The goal for layer masks is to maintain as much of the original image as possible.

Before we can remove the background using masks, we have to switch the selection to the geese. Press ctrl-shift-I (cmd-shift-I for Macs) to invert the selection. Now that we’ve got the geese rounded up, it’s time to apply the layer mask.

With the geese layer selected, add a mask using the button below.

Add a mask

Photoshop will automatically mask according to the current.

Active Layer Mask

With layer masks, black is hidden and white is visible. Here’s a look at what the mask for the geese looks like:

Black and White Mask

Not bad! This is important because the background is still there. It’s just not visible. If you wanted to show the background, it would be a simple matter of adding more white to the layer mask in the appropriate area.

And that’s more or less it! Same effect, less commitment.

Complete Mask

Better Practice, Less Headache

Since I’ve gotten into the habit of favoring layer masks over the eraser, I’ve saved myself a lot of problems. If I accidentally deleted something I need, it’s not such a big setback, I’ll simply make it visible again.

Here’s a question for the crowd: Is there a time where using the eraser tool is more productive? Let us know what you think in the comments.

Posted Thursday, March 5th, 2009 · Back to Top

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26 Comments 1 Mentions

Alex McCabe Author Editor
Good tip. what happens if there are items in the background though, does that make it harder? are there any other ways of masking out items?

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- greg Author Editor
  The whole concept of “non-destructive editing” is an artform all itself, and can be easy or complicated.
  
  However, it is a necessity and is in good form (both for hobbyist and professional), and can save you either a headache or a client’s deadline in the long run.
  
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Zach Dunn Author Editor
@Alex

Background items would certainly make things a little bit trickier, but the main point I’m trying to showcase is how using layer masks will be more forgiving when you make mistakes.

My recommendation would be to use either the pen tool or marquee selection and trace roughly around the item you’d like to extract. Hide the rest with the layer mask, and then zoom in to fix the details.

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Ivo Author Editor
Great tip ! Keep it up

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Petey Boy Author Editor
Hey, great article. This is very helpful. The problem I’m having is playing with the mask after it is made. I want to add text to the mask so that the picture just comes through the text. How would I go about accomplishing this? Also, is there a way to feather the masking? maybe using a bezier curve? or am I making things too complicated when they don’t need to be?

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- Zach Dunn Author Editor
  @Petey
  
  If you hold down the text tool icon, you’ll find that there is an additional option to write in marquee format. Once you’ve finished typing your words, you can use this selection to crop the photo behind it.
  
  You can feather the selection through the Select menu as usual, just make sure that you are within the layer mask before applying either blacks or whites. Give it a try, if you’re still lost let me know.
  
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KiwiPulse Author Editor
Nice easy trick! Thanks :P

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- Funabashi Author Editor
  Hi! I saw your blog a couple of days back, liked it and am ralley interested in guest posting an article. I work for WHS. It is a website on web hosting and web designing. I would love to contribute something that your readers would like. Possibly something about blogging.What do you think? Can it be possible.Best .Joanna
  
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Cristhian Bedon Author Editor
Great tip, and I have been doing the same thing also.

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Heather Flyte Author Editor
Layer Masks are the most wonderful thing in the world. And there are so many ways to use them. Painting on the layer mask is probably the way that has the most control. Most people that use Photoshop only use about 30% of its features, and I was that way until I started really using all the layer options (not just masks, but adjustment layers and clipping masks).I’ve been using masks so long that I only default to the erase when I’m in a huge rush. And even then, not that often.

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Callum Chapman Author Editor
great post, is a really handy tip! I use to hate when I was new at photoshop many years ago and was cutting out photos.. I’d make a mistake and not realise then I’d have to do it all over again!

Callum Chapman’s last blog post..Batch Image Resizing in Photoshop

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Art Author Editor
Your right abt the sweet :) thx its good

Art’s last blog post..Blasting Art Contest!!!

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Brochure Printing Author Editor
Great tutorial! The technique you showed here is really good. Beginners will find this really useful and informative. Keep up the good work!

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Enk. Author Editor
That was cool but I guess its easy to mask stuff from a solid color.. I thought there must be some easy tips for mix backgrounds too :$

Thanks anways ! :)

Enk.’s last blog post..30 Typographic Logos – Inspiration

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restauración fotográfico Author Editor
Muy bueno! Ami me encanta este resulto.

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Vimal Saifudin Author Editor
It really helped me because i was using the erase tool for so long.. Thanks for your post

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Arun M Author Editor
Nice work. Thanks

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JP Author Editor
This is very useful. However, some projects might require that the layer mask affect multiple layers while having the same exact shape. Is this possible? Or would you simply have to create two layer masks?

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Les Author Editor
I don’t have Photoshop – I usually use Paint Shop Pro, more recently I installed GIMP which is more like Photoshop but open source (as in free) so does anyone else use GIMP and where can I find some decent tutorials to use it?

For example, as with this article, to remove backgrounds as I use earse in PSP and the results are honking (!) most of the time.

Thanks.

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- Silver Knight Author Editor
  @Les
  A few links which helped me during my learning of GIMP and similar tools:
  http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/ – The official GIMP tutorials page
  http://gimp-savvy.com/ – A book about GIMP which you can read free on the web
  http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/GIMP – A work-in-progress WikiBook about GIMP
  http://gimpguru.org/ – Some fancy photo manipulation tutorials can be found here
  
  @Heather Flyte
  I agree about layer masks being utterly useful. I use them extensively in GIMP and they are just as useful in GIMP as they are in Photoshop. Same as you, I’ve found that “all the layer options” once used are *very* hard to live without. :)
  
  @Zach Dunn
  Thanks for this useful post. Always nice to have bookmarks like this handy to point folk at when they ask how to do these sort of things. ;)
  
  @Those who might want to do this same sort of thing in GIMP, it’s an almost identical process:
  
  1) Select the area you want to make transparent or mask out using the “Fuzzy Select” (GIMP) or “Magic Wand” (Photoshop) tool, as the article above states.
  2) Press Ctrl-I to invert the selection (again, just as in the article above).
  3) In the GIMP menus, select “Layer > Mask > Add Layer Mask”
  4) Select “Selection” in the dialog window that pops up to create a mask which works exactly like the one in the article.
  
  Also useful in GIMP for this type of task is the “Quick Mask” tool (Shift-Q) which allows you to fine tune the selection using the painting tools. I’m sure that an identical feature exists in Photoshop as well.
  
  ·
- Silver Knight Author Editor
  @Les
  A few links which helped me during my learning of GIMP and similar tools:
  http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/ – The official GIMP tutorials page
  http://gimp-savvy.com/ – A book about GIMP which you can read free on the web
  http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/GIMP – A work-in-progress WikiBook about GIMP
  http://gimpguru.org/ – Some fancy photo manipulation tutorials can be found here
  
  @Heather Flyte
  I agree about layer masks being utterly useful. I use them extensively in GIMP and they are just as useful in GIMP as they are in Photoshop. Same as you, I’ve found that “all the layer options” once used are *very* hard to live without. :)
  
  @Zach Dunn
  Thanks for this useful post. Always nice to have bookmarks like this handy to point folk at when they ask how to do these sort of things. ;)
  
  @Those who might want to do this same sort of thing in GIMP, it’s an almost identical process:
  
  1) Select the area you want to make transparent or mask out using the “Fuzzy Select” (GIMP) or “Magic Wand” (Photoshop) tool, as the article above states.
  2) Press Ctrl-I to invert the selection (again, just as in the article above).
  3) In the GIMP menus, select “Layer > Mask > Add Layer Mask”
  4) Choose “Selection” in the dialog window which pops up to create a mask that works exactly like the one in the article.
  
  Also useful in GIMP for this type of task is the “Quick Mask” tool (Shift-Q) which allows you to fine tune the selection using the painting tools. I’m sure that an identical feature exists in Photoshop as well.
  
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Todd Author Editor
I wish I found this article when I started using Pshop.

A great way to fine-tune the mask is to select the “Channels” tab next to “Layers” and make the mask channel visible. The semi-transparent pink color is the mask (hidden). From here you can use white paint to reveal the image. Also, try using white text to display the image through that text on that channel.

Don’t forget to hide the mask on the “Channel” tab when you’re done editing.

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EL CODIGO DE BARRAS Author Editor
One day someone said, in design world “Keep it, simple…”and this is a perfect example about this quote…Thanks guys !

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fæžšrsæžšker fæ°“ sjç›²lva bostadslæ°“net Author Editor
Iâ€™m pleased, I have to say. Really rarely can i encounter a blog thatâ€™s both educative and enjoyable, and without a doubt, you might have hit the nail on the head. Your current concept is definitely outstanding; the issue is whatever not enough people are discussing intelligently about. I’m happy that I found this within my seek something relating to this.

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Mandar Author Editor
Hi,
Thanks for tip, I m new at Photoshop
I was wondering while creating “Levitation” or “Cloning” photography, I use Layer mask, but I still can not make it perfect ,one layers are added,and masked, I m supposed to use Brush to clear the platform underneath me, at this particular step ,I think can we use magic wand tool instead of brush , cause , sometime , brush create mess and final picture does not look good.
I know, most of the pro use brush and do suggest same, bt I cud nt use it.
Am I making things too complicated when they don’t need to be?

Please advise

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Matt Author Editor
I have a job where we grab images out of pdfs to use in our system. I hate when there is an object, such as a tire, when I pull it out of the pdf all the junk in the background wasn’t erased…just masked. Now I have to erase again myself….like that trash can in the background would ever be needed in the image.

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Zach Dunn

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