8 Creative Ways to Use Masks for Editing Photography - SLR Camera
8 Creative Ways to Use Masks for Editing Photography
There are many creative uses for masking software, however they may
not be evident at first. Read on for a list of ideas to try on what you
can achieve using the new
Version 5 of Topaz ReMask! For the release they are offering it at $20 off this week, simply remember to use the discount code
GetReMask5 at checkout.
Deal found here: Topaz ReMask at $20 Off
8 Creative Ways to Use Masking Software
Masks in photo editing software are a way of protecting specific
areas of your image, just as you would use masking tape when painting
your house. They allow you to perform image editing functions to
selective areas of an image.
1. Enlarge a Moon
Photographing the Moon
If you do not own a zoom or telescopic lens, the above image may
apply to you. So often the moon will be bright and vivid enough to make
anybody want to snap a picture, only to be disappointed (even with a
regular zoom lens!) as the moon looks puny on the viewfinder.
The raw image below was snapped at a focal length of 75mm. The zoom
lens I was using goes to 200mm, however I wanted to capture the entire
scene–the crescent moon along with the girl looking up as if she was in
awe.
Moonstruck
Yet the moon is hardly noticeable. Therefore, I extracted the moon using
Topaz ReMask
and enlarged it, creating a super crescent moon. To further abstract
the image, I then applied some artistic, retro filters with
Topaz Lens Effects and
Topaz Adjust to achieve this final result.
Final Image
This upcoming August (starting around the 10th), we’ll have another
supermoon and this is going to be the best one we’ve had all year folks!
According to sources, “this full moon is not only the closest and
largest full moon of the year. It also presents the moon’s closest
encounter with Earth for all of 2014.” (
earthsky.org)
If you’re lucky enough to own a telescopic lens or looking to rent
one, now’s the time! Topaz user Gary Lamott was able to capture this
image of a super, bloodmoon from this year:
Bloodmoon
He then used Topaz ReMask to extract a lighthouse from the same location (taken earlier in the day):
Lighthouse
The isolated lighthouse was then placed in front of the supermoon to create an entirely new image:
Final Image
You can follow this full tutorial starting on page 48 of the ReMask user manual.
2. Compositing
A composite is an assemblage of two or more images to create a final
one. Typically you’ll start with a background image and then extract
elements from other images and place them into the background to create a
new piece of art.
Inspired by the painter Rene Magritte, Topaz user Robyn Aber created
her own composite by extracting elements from their background using
Topaz Remask and placing them into an entirely new background.
Topaz Remask Composite
We also love this compositing example by Blake Rudis, who extracted
his self-portrait using ReMask, placing it onto an HDR background. Watch
the video here for tips and tricks on creating your own composite:
Another example comes to us from Adrian Theze of
The Digital Lightroom, who used
Topaz ReMask to isolate the moon, clouds and the silhouette figure from other photographs to create this final composition:
Composite by Adrian Theze
3. Selective Adjustments
Using masking software doesn’t just have to be used for extracting an
object from its background and placing it onto a new one. Isolating
part of your image for selective adjustments is another way to use
masking software.
For instance, Topaz user Gary Lamott brought this image of bottles
into ReMask. By isolating a single bottle, he was able to paint in blue
specifically to that extraction without affecting the surrounding areas.
“There is one in every crowd” by Gary Lamott
Selective adjustments are an excellent way to enhance or edit
particular areas of your image without affecting other areas. It is an
epitome of control in the editing workflow.
Fine art architectural photographer Julia Anna Gospodarou also uses
masking software in her post-processing workflow for selective
adjustments.
She claims, “Working selectively with light on different areas of the
image lays at the core of my processing workflow, thus selections and
masking are among the most vital tools I use to create a photograph.”
As you can see above, Gospodarou was able to isolate the subject with
Topaz ReMask so that she could specifically work with the sky and
background, without affecting the architecture.
Another example of selective adjustments that may spark some ideas can be found in this tutorial, covering how to
transform your image into a surreal piece of art, where ReMask was used to isolate a tree. The tree was then enhanced with
Topaz Clarity and
Clean, while the background was manipulated with
Topaz Lens Effects.
Transforming an image into a surreal piece of art
4. Conquer Skies
Often weather isn’t the most ideal on a photo shoot, however with
masking software you can easily extract a boring background and replace
it with a more eye-catching one.
In this tutorial covering a
creative sky replacement with ReMask 4, the landscape is extracted and the dull sky replaced with beautiful, fluffy clouds (which are then reflected into the water).
Another reason you may want to extract a sky is to avoid noise
artifacts. We often receive comments from customers, frustrated as to
why noise, haloing and banding has formed in their sky during the
editing process.
A common reason for this is because they have pushed the edits too
far, more than the sky can handle. A simple solution is the mask out the
sky and only edit the landscape, cityscape, or whichever part of the
image is less susceptible to forming artifacts.
Isolate a cityscape from the sky using Topaz ReMask 4
If the sky is already beautiful, or doesn’t need much editing, why
not separate it from the subject and then make lighter edits to the sky?
Seems like a logical solution to me.
5. Blur a Background
Blurring out a background can be a preferable choice should you want
to de-focus distracting elements and direct the eye more towards the
subject in focus.
The image below was taken with a cell phone and I did not have entire
control over the depth of field. Preferably I’d like the background to
be more out of focus and the recycle bin to be less detectable.
Sunflower
I therefore extracted the sunflower from its background using Topaz ReMask 4.
Once the flower was extracted, I then brought the background
(original) image into Topaz Lens Effects, which contains several blur
options including selective bokeh, tilt-shift and creative blur. For a
quick background blur, I applied a tilt-shift blur as shown, focusing
specifically on the right side of the image.
Back in Photoshop, I added a
vector mask to the layer.
I then inverted the mask (ctrl/cmd + I) and then used the brush tool
(B) to paint in the blur on the right side of the image, and at a
lighter opacity to the left side.
When painting in the effect, you’ll see white appear in the vector
mask in your layers panel. Just remember, white = keep & black =
remove. So the white brush will be painting in the blur effect, while
the black section of the mask will remove the effect.
To toggle between the white (keep) brush and black (remove) brush,
simply press the X key. With a brush at a reduced opacity you can make
the blur as strong or light as you’d like.
Sunflower with Blur Effect
6. Remove Smoke from Fireworks
Topaz user Sheila Kimmel recently sent a request to our customer
support account, asking how to remove the heavy smoke in her fireworks
image using masking software.
Photo © Sheila Kimmel
New to this type of editing technique, I decided to bring the image
into Topaz ReMask to isolate the fireworks and then use the clone stamp
tool in Photoshop to blend in the pure black sky into the smoke.
Here’s what I did in ReMask using the Blue Primary brush to create an
outline and then the red fill tool to fill in the background (cut).
I then made a few refinements and reduced the mask’s hardness.
After pressing OK to bring this selection back to a new layer in Photoshop, I then duplicated the original background layer.
With the background layer selected, I then used the Clone Stamp tool
(shortcut key: S) to clone sections of the pure black sky in the right
side of the image (hold down option/alt key to sample) and stamp it to
the other side. Be sure to reduce the opacity of the clone stamp brush,
especially around the edges of the fireworks.
You can then use other available tools in Photoshop to help the
masked layer blend in better…such as the blur, smudge, burn and dodge
tools.
Although not perfect, hopefully you get the general idea of how
masking software can be used help remove smoke or other distracting
elements.
7. Center a Subject
Rather than sacrificing your background by cropping it to center a
subject, use masking software to extract it and place it somewhere else.
Professional stock and travel photographer Scott Stulberg demonstrates
this process with his two images below:
Before ReMask
After ReMask
Stulberg explains, “I think it’s a pretty cool way to show ReMask
being used in a different way. She jumped on the left but I wanted her
centered. ReMask was what did it!”
8. Portraiture, Sports, and Wedding Photography
We often receive many requests from portrait photographers who wish
to extract their subject from a background and place them somewhere new.
In the particular example below, Topaz user Randy Soop was have
difficulty extracting the image he took of a ballerina from the
background, especially in the tutu:
photo by Randy Soop
Using the available tools in
Topaz ReMask,
we were able to extract the ballerina and her tutu. For transparent
objects like this, ReMask contains a brush called the Transparency
brush, created specifically for this difficult task.
Transparency Brush
As you can see below, the basic/primary blue brush was used to
outline the ballerina and the background filled with red. For the
transparent tutu, the Transparency brush was used, where the blackest
part of the tutu was sampled with green (keep) and the background was
then sampled with red (cut). Further refinements were made to perfect
the mask.
Changing Backgrounds
See other examples of how masking software has been used for sports, wedding and portraiture below:
And there you have it!
Discount Ending Soon on the New Topaz ReMask 5:
Topaz is offering a discount on their new ReMask 5 until the middle of the month. Test the program
with a 30-day trial, or purchase the program for $20 off until the end of September 18, 2015 by applying the code:
GetReMask5.
Offer found here: Topaz ReMask 5 at $20 Off
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8 Creative Ways to Use Masks for Editing Photography
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