Photoshop Masking and Compositing: Fundamentals

- Hi, I'm Deke McClelland, hello and welcome to Photoshop Masking and Compositing Fundamentals. The introduction to my multi-part series on how to make compelling, incredible, and ultimately photorealistic compositions in Photoshop. It all begins with this course, in which I'll show you the basics. We'll start by reviewing the Channels Panel, which is where you create and edit masks. Next I'll introduce you to the mysterious, but essential, Alpha Channel, which for our purposes right now, is the mask.

Then we'll take our first look at compositing, and I'll show you how to blend your masked images so they naturally interact. After that, the Selection Tools, and we'll examine the best Selection Tool of them all, the Color Range command. Then comes Refine Edge, that lets you fine-tune the work of all those other Tools. And then we'll take a look at the definitive intersection of masking and compositing layer masks. Having great masking and compositing skills will benefit you for years to come.