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Do Not Fear the Layer Mask: Tips for Using One of Photoshop's Most Powerful Tools

Mar 21, 2008

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This chapter is from the book 

Layers: The Complete Guide to Photoshop's Most Powerful Feature

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How Do I...

?	TURN OFF OR DISABLE A LAYER MASK? Shift-click on the layer mask thumbnail in the Layers panel. You’ll see a red X appear over it. It’s still there, but the layer mask is disabled. Shift-click again on it to enable it.
?	VIEW THE CONTENTS OF A LAYER MASK? To see the contents of a layer mask, or see it in black-and-white mode, Option-click (PC: Alt-click) on it. Now you’ll just see the mask onscreen, and you can adjust it (paint on it) there just as you normally would. Option-click on it again to get back to the normal view.
?	MOVE A LAYER MASK TO ANOTHER LAYER? To move a layer mask, just click-and-drag the layer mask to another layer.
?	COPY A LAYER MASK TO ANOTHER LAYER? To copy a layer mask, press-and-hold the Option (PC: Alt) key and click-and-drag the layer mask to another layer. You’ll see a double-arrow cursor indicating that you’re duplicating the mask and not just moving it.
?	DELETE A LAYER MASK? Drag the layer mask to the Trash icon at the bottom of the Layers panel.
?	MOVE THE CONTENTS OF A LAYER WITHOUT MOVING THE LAYER MASK ITSELF? To move what is actually on the layer around in your image, but leave the layer mask exactly where it is, you need to unlink the two. Click on the little chain-link icon between the layer thumbnail and the layer mask thumbnail to unlink them. Click that space again to re-link the two.
?	APPLY A LAYER MASK PERMANENTLY TO A LAYER? To apply a layer mask permanently to a layer, so it actually deletes the masked areas, Control-click (PC: Right-click) on the layer mask icon. Then choose Apply Layer Mask from the contextual menu that appears.

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