Adobe Photoshop CS5 One-on-One

3. Scoot the Badlands layer downward 200 pixels. You can do
   this in a couple of ways:
   
   
   • Press Ctrl+Shift+� (�-Shift-�) twenty times in a row. Sounds
     ridiculous, but it’s pretty routine.
   
   
   • Press Ctrl+T (�-T) to enter the free transform mode. Then
     click the delta symbol (∆) in the left half of the options bar
     to turn on relative positioning, as labeled in Figure 5-46.
     Change the Y value to 200 pixels and press the Enter or
     Return key. Press the Enter or Return key again to accept
     the transformation.
   
   
   
   

Figure 5-46.
We’ve revealed 200 pixels of sky from the Thin Sky layer be-
hind the Badlands layer. The sky is dramatic, but the transition
between the two layers leaves something to be desired, so let’s
blend them with a layer mask.

4. Load the Planet Arc mask as a selection. Go to the Channels
   panel and Ctrl- or �-click the Planet Arc channel. Or just press
   Ctrl+Alt+6 (�-Option-6 on the Mac). A curved selection that
   I’ve created for you appears along the horizon of our emerg-
   ing world.


5. Click the layer mask icon. Return to the Layers panel and click
   the tiny icon at the bottom, indicated by the arrow cursor in
   Figure 5-34. This converts the selection to a layer mask, creat-
   ing a smoother transition between Earth and sky.

PeaRl Of WISDOm

The mask appears as a thumbnail in the Layers panel, identical to how it

appears in the Channels panel. In fact, for all intents and purposes, you just

duplicated the mask from one location to another. Where the mask is white,

the layer is opaque; where the mask is black, the layer is transparent.

6. Grab the brush tool in the toolbox. The problem with the
   curved mask is that it scalps away too much of the rocky cliffs
   in the central and right portions of the image. But because it’s a
   mask, you can paint the cliffs back. Press B to select the brush
   tool and then press D to ensure that the foreground color is
   white, the default setting when working in a mask.

Relative positioning

Figure 5-47.

158 Lesson 5: Working with Layers