Masking in Photoshop

Masking is a way of selecting parts of an image that we want to modify or erase. This can be difficult if the edges of the image that we want to select or mask is not so clear. The process of selection can be time consuming and difficult. For starters we can select parts of an image by using the Magic Wand Tool in Photoshop. But sections that we want to be in our mask may not be included when we use the Magic Wand tool. We need to make a well-defined and clean selection mask.

Masking tools in Photoshop work best when there is a strong contrast between foreground and background objects. For instance if there is a line of trees against the sky it can be difficult to select the complex edges between the sky and trees.

Photoshop Magic Wand

The Magic Wand tool in Photoshop can be used where there is a strong contrast between large chunks of color. You can set the tolerance to whatever level you desire. A low tolerance will only select those pixels in proximity that are relatively close in colour. A high tolerance will select more of a color range than the one that is originally clicked on. If you choose too high a tolerance it will eat into the part of the image that you do not want selected.

Photoshop Lasso Tool

The Lasso Tool in Photoshop will help you to manually selects sections of a photo that you want to manipulate in Photoshop. There are two lasso tools - the Polygonal Lasso Tool (L) will select sections when you click in straight lines. I use this selection tool all the time because I can follow straight lines easily and any curved lines I will click continuously around the curve and it seems to work out fine for me. The plain Lasso tool needs to be used like a drawing brush - you hold the mouse down continuously and follow the object that you want to cut out. The Magnetic Lasso tool is a very handy tool that automatically follows a line of high contrast. It is very quick and intuitive - just click and drag the mouse along the line you want and it draws it automatically - just like magnetism! I will certainly use this tool more in the future it is so handy and easy to use.

The Quick Mask lets you draw in a selection with a brush tool. It is very handy and can be used for any custom selections that you need to make or to simplify any complex edges. The Photoshop Extract tool can delete the background in simple images but with complex backgrounds it can be fiddly and time consuming.