The Power of ‘i’
Really, Ctrl+i for ‘invert’.
Picked this tip up from the Digital Photography School.
Many of us use layer masks when editing a photo in Photoshop to allow us to mask out parts of our layers. For example, if I want to add a color filter layer or a texture layer and I don’t want the layer to affect the entire image I start using my ‘black brush’ to ‘undo’ the entire layer then I switch to the ‘white brush’ to brush in the effect that I want. This is double step editing and I generally like to do things in one step. (I am always on a very tight time schedule.)
“If you want the layer to only affect a small portion of your photo, you have to erase/mask out everything except that little area. In reality, this only takes a second but that’s a long time in the editing world where everything is created to make your job super fast and easy. So instead of wasting a whole second, I just click the layer mask and hit Ctrl+i for ‘invert’. This turns your layer inside out so instead of spending time masking bits out, you can now use a black or white brush to mask portions in.”
That’s it! Simple. When I learn little shortcuts like this after a full day of editing a portrait session I just bow my head to the Photoshop Gods.
See you tonight for our Long Island Photo Gallery field trip to chilly Reckson Plaza in Uniondale.