- 1. Take Care When Working on a White Background
- 2. Use Your Quick Select Tool Intelligently
- 3. Refine Edge to Finish Off a Selection
- 4. White May Not Necessarily Be White in High Key
- 5. Reuse Adjustment Layer Masks
- 6. Add Some Detail to Your RAW file
- 7. Add Some Texture to Clothing
- 8. Dodge and Burn on a Grey Layer
- 9. Soften Up Skin with Pore Detail
- 10. Add a Little Bit of Vibrance to Your Colors
- Final Thoughts
5. Reuse Adjustment Layer Masks
When you’re working with adjusting exposure on backgrounds in Photoshop, you’ll invariably need to adjust your subject’s exposure. Instead of repeating the selection techniques that we previously talked about, I’d recommend reusing the ones that you’ve already made.
Click on a new Curves adjustment layer, and you’ll see that there is a mask that is created in all white. Press and hold the Option (PC: Alt) button and drag the mask that you previously created for the background (see Figure 7). This will make a duplicate of the mask and replace it in the new Curves adjustment layer. From there, you can adjust the curve to better expose the subject and make them stand out a little bit more.