Photoshop Tutorial

MaskPlus by Ron Lemire

How to get rid of uneven Mask seams

Whether you use the Magic Wand, the Pen tool or Quick Mask, making selections (and creating masks) is relatively simple and one of the first steps in photo retouching. First you make a selection (maybe saving it as a channel mask), and then you apply some type of effect (maybe after bumping it to a new layer). Then you make the next selection and repeat the process.

Start re-combining these selections again and your troubles begin. No matter how careful you are, no selections match perfectly. As shown on the left, the "red" and "blue" selections sometimes overlap and sometimes leave gaps. Correcting these edges, usually with the Smudge tool, is both frustrating and time consuming.

To demonstrate a different method of handling selections or masks that creates perfectly aligned edges I'm going to prepare this Santa, which I worked on for Photo Manipulation Challenge 7, to be colorized.

Attention: All selections have to be in Selection mode not Quick Mask mode before they can be saved as a Channel Mask.

* Santa was carved and submitted by Ed Ladendorf.

This tutorial will not be discussing selecting techniques. However, for the sake of clarity, I'll be describing MaskPlus as if the Quick Mask tool was being used. Personally I prefer using the Pen tool for selecting because it's more accurate and once you close the loop it's 100% selected. With the Magic Wand or Quick Mask it's possible to leave a number of unselected holes. But use any method you feel comfortable with.

At the left you can see the red color where I've applied my first selection. This will be saved as a Channel Mask that I'll appropriately name "Mask1" (color white).

Using the MaskPlus technique requires keeping track of each mask in sequence and it's contents.

Here is where MaskPlus starts to look different than most other masking techniques you might have used.

As you can see, my original selection has been added to. Now it not only contains "Mask1" (the color white area) but also covers the face and hands. I'll save this complete selection as a Channel Mask named "Mask2" (color pink)

This procedure works better if all selecting is done first - before any corrections or effects are attempted.

As before, the selecting area has increased. Now it contains "Mask1" "Mask2" and Santa's list. This complete masking group will now be saved as a Channel Mask and named "Mask3" (I'm going to leave this "List" selection as natural wood).

Now I've added the boots to the selection. Everything will be saved to a Channel Mask named "Mask4" (color black).

Would now be a good time to explain how this technique works?

Before a selection can be used it must be individually separated from the masking group. For every selection we added into the masking group, we must subtract to get it out.

To color the boots black we need to load the mask where the boots were added "Mask4" and the subtract "Mask3". This procedure leaves the boots selected.

To color the face pink we need to load the mask where the face was added "Mask2" and subtract "Mask1". This leaves the face and hands selected. Always subtract the next lower mask from the one you need.
* It's as simple as that!

This area will be a gradient color (white to black) to add a shadow and make the boots stand out. It will be saved as a Channel Mask called "Mask5" (color gradient)

Note: Adjoining areas can be painted right over. Only the new outer edge requires that you pay attention to detail.

Finally the whole image is selected. This will be saved as a Channel Mask and named "Mask6" (color red) -- Santa's suit.

Note: Photoshop 6 only allows 21 Channels to be used. If you're going to need more Channel Masks than that you'll need to break your job into multiple stages. Planning ahead will save you grief later on.

Colorizing...

1) On the background layer, "Mask1" (beard & robe trim) was loaded and colored white. Subtraction is not required for the first mask.

2) On the background layer I loaded "Mask2" (face & hands) then loaded "Mask1" in subtraction mode. The remaining selection was colored pink.

3) On the background layer I loaded "Mask4" (boots) then loaded "Mask3" in subtraction mode. The remaining selection was colored black.

Note: "Mask3" was not used because it's being left natural wood from the background image.

4) On the background layer I loaded "Mask5" (shadow) then loaded "Mask4" in subtraction mode. The remaining selection was colored a white/black gradient.

5) On the background layer I loaded "Mask6" (red robe) then loaded "Mask5" in subtraction mode. The remaining selection was colored red.

6) Finally, highlight coloring was added to Santa's face and all visible layers were merged and saved.

Conclusion:

Using the MaskPlus technique guarantees your mask edges will always match because every selection has only one edge - which it shares with all its neighbors?

The image used in this tutorial came from Photo Manipulation Challenge 7 at RetouchPro.....

RetouchPro is the ultimate site for anyone interested in photo/image retouching, repairing or enhancing. The site has a member forum where all manner of photo subjects are covered. The site also has tutorials and a photo archive of rare and damaged photos. RetouchPro sponsers "Restoration", "Retouching" and "Manipulation" Challenges where you can meet the challenge and compare your skill with other members within a moderated format.