Finessing a Mask with Overlay Brushing
In the previous two exercises, we made significant progress in iso-
lating our model and all her loose locks from her low-contrast back-
ground. Now that we’ve addressed the hair with the mathematical
power-lifting of the Calculations command, and approached the
arms and body with the precision selecting power of the pen tool,
what remains will require a tool of more versatility and subtlety—
the trusty brush tool. The brush tool, particularly when set to the
Overlay blend mode, is a great contrast-enhancement tool ideally
suited for the clean-up work we have left on this project.
Remember, the goal here is to increase the contrast of the mask so
that the model is perfectly white and the background is perfectly
dark. Once we’ve completed this long awaited mask, I’ll show you
how to load it as a selection and move our tempestuously tressed
model to a less boring background.- Open the image. Either continue with the image you
saved at the end of the last exercise, or navigate to the
Lesson 10 folder in Lesson Files-PsCS5 1on1 and open
the catch-up file I created for you, Hair with Body.psd. - Switch to your working mask. If you don’t have the mask open,
click the Mask channel in the Channels panel to view our
masking work-in-progress. You can see in Figure 10-38 that the
remaining obstacles include the gradient-like background, the
areas of transition around her hair, and the face and neck. We’ll
start with the last one first, since it’s the most straightforward.
Figure 10-38.364 Lesson 10: Creating and Applying Masks