Layer mask essentials

- [Instructor] Layer Masks are a key feature of Photoshop…that allow us to non-destructively hide…and show selective portions of our image.…We can see that this document has four different layers,…a river layer, a waterfall layer,…a curtain layer, and clouds.…The first thing that I wanna do is I wanna toggle…off the visibility for the clouds…and the waterfall and I wanna add a Layer Mask…on my curtain layer in order to blend…the bottom of the curtain with the river below.…In order to add a Layer Mask I'll choose Layer,…and then Layer Mask, Reveal All.…

At the moment we're working with a photograph…or a pixel based document but masking always…works the same way in Photoshop,…I could be working with a type layer…or a shape layer, a smart object, it doesn't matter.…Wherever the mask is white it's going to show the contents…in that layer, and wherever the mask is black,…it's going to hide it.…If I paint with a gray, then I'll get varying levels…of transparency or varying levels of opacity,…of the content in the layer.…