Underdahl Online

Using Layer Masks

Due to a metering problem on my Yashica Electro 35 GSN, this photo turned out badly underexposed. Still I felt that it was an interesting enough photo that I wanted to try to salvage something from it. Photoshop provides several handy tools. My first step was to create a new adjustment layer for Levels (not mandatory, but a handy new feature in CS3). In the Levels dialog I adjusted the black and white level sliders to eliminate the gray haze cast over the image and slightly improve contrast:

Next, I duplicated the background layer, moved it to the top of the layer stack, and applied the "Auto Color" adjustment. Auto Color improves the color of the cat and the fading sunlight streaming through the lattice, but it also exagerates the film grain and brightness of the white wall in the background:

To correct the background problems I created a layer mask for the upper layer. Click the Layer Mask button, and then make sure that the Mask is selected and not the image:

In a mask, the color black masks out the layer, while the color white unmasks the layer. I used a large (200) paint brush with opacity set to 50% and painted over the background area that I wanted to mask out. Notice the black area on the mask in the Layers palette:

The final result: