Layer masks

[Tomcatred55]

Barry Beckham mentioned Layer Masks as a way I could have improved my AV "Can you tell what it is yet?".

I am unsure how to use them.

Have you made an instructional video explaining the technique Barry, or anyone else.

[Barry Beckham]

Yes I have lots of videos, some dedicated to Photoshop for Photographers some dedicated just to layers. Layers and masks allow a much more controlled blend between aspects of your image. You can find them HERE

 

[Tomcatred55]

Thanks Barry I'll have look when I have time.

[Tomcatred55]

By the way the original "colour popped" photo, that inspired me to make the AV was made by creating a new layer of my colour image, turning that layer b&w then erasing areas of that layer to reveal the colour below.

Surely that is a layer mask.

I can't see how that would help create the AV that I did.

[Barry Beckham]

If you erased from the mono one to reveal the colour one below, you’re using layers, but not masks. Masks allow you to make soft edges via gradients or you can use delicate painting on the mask. It won’t cure all the issues in your sequence, but it would help with some. The problem is the learning curve of layers and masks. 

Masks are rather like erasing one layer to reveal another in some ways, but masks never actually remove any pixels. It just masks them, which means you can reverse what you have done for great control. They are not something you can explain easily with text. Detailed videos are really the way to learn them.

 

[Tomcatred55]

That isn't what I wanted to achieve Barry.

This is meant to be someone painting this scene from a blank canvas.

Lin Evans produces quite a few "painting" AVs but they reveal a completed painting with a single stroke of the brush and that isn't how artists paint. They "block in" areas of a single colour and then add fine details on top of that.

Like I said I started with the final image and took away details, there is nothing "underneath" the final image so I have to imagine what would be there (a blank wall, sky, sea etc).

[Barry Beckham]

Then carry on doing what your doing.