Tutorial 1: Layer Masking

Layer Masking in photoshop is a non destructive way to reveal and hide parts of a layer to blend into the image.

for example, I want to blend these two images together:

Image 1

Image 2

What I do first is open up both images in photoshop as 2 separate documents,

I then use the rectangular marquee tool to outline image 1. 

Then using the Move tool in the toolbar (or press 'M'), I drag the image 1 over to the other document, which creates a new layer.

Now it's time to blend both images:

to create a layer mask first I drag the top layer, from the layers panel, down to an icon that appears as a rectangle with a circle in the middle, and drop the layer. A white image appears beside to image layer 

-that is the layer mask. 

And as it appears white, it means the the entire layer is revealed, as appose to changing the mask to black (by holding down Alt while creating a new layer mask) where the layer will be completely hidden. 

To create almost a transition between the black and white, the brush tool is used, black paint to hide a section of the layer and white to reveal.

But before I want to hide of reveal, I need to work out what areas I want to blend. A handy way to view this is by lowering the opacity of the top layer to 50%, this makes the layer transparent and I'm able to see the layer below as well. This helps to view where I want to hide the top layer, so the bottom image can be seen.

Now that I know where I want to hide and reveal, I select the mask in the layers panel so it is highlighted, I then select the brush tool (either from the side bar or by pressing "B") and side click with the mouse to give me more options with the brush tool. I have my brush tool size at about 200 pixels and at 100% hardness to first hide the parts of the layer that I want to hide, such as the bottom right corner of image 1 where it covers the subject of image 2.

After hiding the sections I want, I then change the Brush tool hardness to 0% and soften the the outline around the subject of image 2 (with the layer mask still highlighted in the layers panel).
As the grass in both images are very similar, this makes blending the two images simple. 

To view the  what I have done, I can press the eye icon beside the layer in the layers panel to see the image below and to click the icon again to see the blended layer over the top, this helps to assess how the blending has effected the image, and whether there are parts I may want to hide more of or reveal.

Once I am happing with the result, I can combine the 2 layers to form one image by selecting Layer along the top toolbars and under layer, select 'flatten image' (or 'Command E') which combines the the blended layer to form the single image. 

-And if I wasn't happy at all and wanted to start from the beginning, all I have to do is delete the mask by side clicking the mask in the layers panel and select 'delete layer mask,'  it then leaves the layer to it's original state without effecting the layer at all. 

This is my final result from layer masking:

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Source:

-http://www.photoshopessentials.com/basics/layers/layer-masks/

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