TipClique Photoshop Tutorial - Home

This tutorial will show you how to use adjustment layers, and masks to create interesting effects in Photoshop. All that is used in this tutorial are adjustment layers, fill layers, masks, and styles.

Masks consist of a grayscale image, which will hide or reveal a portion of the layer to which it is attached. The transparency is based on the level of gray in the mask. White areas of a mask are opaque, and black areas are transparent. Gray areas of the mask are as transparent as the level of gray they are, so a mask filled with 50% gray has the same effect as lowering the opacity to 50%.

This tutorial is not only meant to show you how to create the image below, but to show you how to use masks, and adjustment layers to create an infinite number of effects.

Create a new image of any size. This tutorial uses an image size of 520x520 pixels.

Select 'Layer > New Fill Layer > Pattern' from the menu, and click OK in the first dialog that pops up, then select a pattern in the next dialog, and click OK. Select 'Layer > Layer Style > Bevel and Emboss' from the menu, and set the Size to 1, and then click the 'Texture' option in the left part of the dialog, and select the pattern you used to fill this layer. The pattern I used is named Baked.

You can download the patterns used in this tutorial or select any other pattern you like.

Select 'Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Hue/Saturation' from the menu. Click OK in the first dialog that pops up, and then set the Saturation to -10, and the Lightness to -30 in the next dialog, and click OK.

If you look at the adjustment layer in the layers palette, you will see the layer has a mask already attached to the layer so the following is applied to the mask itself. Select 'Filter > Render > Fibers' from the menu, and click OK. Next select 'Filter > Sketch > Stamp' from the menu, and click OK. The stamp filter is good for making masks black and white which causes the effect to show only the areas within the white portion of the mask.

Select 'Layer > Layer Style > Inner Glow' from the menu, and set the Blend Mode to Multiply, the color to black, and the Size to 2, and click OK. You will notice that the styling is applied to the mask itself.

Repeat step 2 above, but select a different pattern for the pattern, and the bevel texture the pattern I used is named Combustion. Select 'Filter > Render > Clouds' from the menu, and click OK. Select 'Filter > Brush Stroke > Ink Outlines' from the menu, and click OK.

Select 'Layer > New Fill Layer > Solid Color' from the menu, and click OK in both the dialogs that appear, the color selected doesn't matter. Lower the Fill Opacity to 0% in the layers palette.

Select 'Layer > Layer Style > Bevel and Emboss' from the menu, and then set the Size to 1, the Highlight Mode to Color Dodge, the Shadow Mode to Color Burn, and then click the Texture option in the left part of the dialog, and select any pattern you like I used the pattern named Alien Storm. Since the Fill Opacity is set to 0% you will only see the bevel effect, the layer itself is transparent.

Select 'Layer > New Fill Layer > Hue/Saturation' from the menu, and click OK in the first dialog, and then click the Colorize checkbox, and set the Hue to 65, and the Saturation to 25.

Select 'Layer > Layer Style > Outer Glow' from the menu, and set the Blend mode to Multiply, the Color to black, the Opacity to 50, the Noise to 50, and the Size to 40.

Select 'Inner Glow' on the left side of the dialog, and set the Blend mode to Overlay, the Color to black, the Opacity to 50, the Noise to 50, and the Size to 25.

Select 'Bevel' on the left side of the dialog, set the Size to 1, the Highlight Mode to Color Dodge, the Shadow Mode to Color Burn, and then click the Texture option in the left part of the dialog, and select the pattern you selected in step 2.

Select 'Pattern Overlay' on the left side of the dialog, and select the pattern you selected in step 2, and set the Blend Mode to Overlay.

Now with all of that setup set the foreground color to black, and select the brush tool with a soft round brush of around 65px in size. Paint over the image in various places as you see fit. You will notice that as you paint onto the layer everything below this layer will appear where you are painting. This is because the black areas of the mask make those areas of this layer transparent. You should play around with different filters on this mask, and try out different brushes so you can see exactly how the mask works. You can always clear the mask by filling it with white.

I hope this helps, and opens up a new world of possibilities for those who have difficulty with masks in Photoshop, and other image editing software that has layer masking capabilities.