Part 2 Base Imagery
black and the Opacity set to 100 percent. This more accurately represents how the mask operates and it useful for this demonstration. However, in practice it is usually easier to use the Quick Mask mode if the image below is visible, even in areas where it is completely covered by the mask. For that reason, Photoshop provides a way to alter the appearance of the Quick Mask mode.
Figure 8.9. Create a selection using the Rectangle Marquee tool.
Figure 8.10. In Quick Mask mode, the area of the selection should be clear and the masked area should be a color.
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Although adjusting the appearance of the Quick Mask does not affect the selection, the selection can be altered using Quick Mask. This is really the main reason Photoshop includes a Quick Mask mode. Quick Mask mode can be used to paint selections onto the mask. While in Quick Mask mode, painting with white removes the mask and painting with black restores the mask. To revisit the photograph/cardboard analogy, in Quick Mask mode painting with white is similar to cutting away a part of the cardboard to reveal the photograph underneath; and painting with black puts the cut-away cardboard pieces back on top of the photograph. Here’s another way to think about altering masks: painting with white in Quick Mask mode selects pixels and painting with black deselects pixels. To see how this operates within Photoshop, consider the following example: 1. Open an image in Photoshop and make a selection using the Marquee tool. This Marquee selection is just to aid in the demonstration of the concept. 2. Switch to Quick Mask mode. If the covered areas in Quick Mask mode are not black, double-click the Quick Mask mode icon to change the appearance of the Quick Mask. For this demonstration, these settings have been chosen because masks are most often represented as a black, white, and gray image in other areas of Photoshop. 3. Notice that the colors in the Color Picker have changed to grayscale colors. This is because only grayscale colors are typically used to alter the mask. To alter the selection, choose white as the foreground color, select the Paint Brush tool, and paint an area of the mask white. The area that is painted white will reveal the image below the mask. 4. The area painted white has been removed from the mask—or put another way, the area painted white has been selected. To see the selection, click the Quick Mask mode icon to switch back to Standard Selection mode. The area that was painted white shows as a selection in this view.