You should now have a separate layer with the saved layer mask. Paste the layer mask – Edit Menu –> Paste (Command V – Mac, Control V – Windows).Click on the layer mask and activate it by clicking on the checkbox. Select the layer where you want to add the mask and then click on the Channels Tab.Create a duplicate layer – Layer Menu –> Duplicate Layer (Command J – Mac, Control J – Windows) and add a layer mask by clicking on the “Add Layer Mask” icon at the bottom on the layers tab.Go to the tab in Photoshop with the image where you want to use the mask.To copy the layer mask, go to the Select Menu –> All (Command A- Mac, Control A – Windows) and then copy – Edit Menu –> Copy (Command C – Mac, Control C – Windows).Go to the tab in Photoshop with the layer mask image that you just opened.Open the saved mask image in Photoshop just like a normal photo.In Lightroom, I also give the mask a keyword of “Layer Mask” so I can easily find all the saved masks. Flatten the image and save the mask in the folder where your photo is stored.This will create a new layer in the document with the mask. Layer masks are great for localizing your Photoshop edits, making the changes you create more precise, resulting in higher quality pictures and artwork. To easily edit and refine existing layer masks, do the following: In the Layers panel, select the layer containing the mask you want to edit. You can add a mask to a layer and use the mask to hide portions of the layer and reveal the layers below. Go to the new document and paste – Edit Menu –> Paste (Command V – Mac, Control V – Windows) the layer mask. Masking enables you to create anything you can imagine in Photoshop.Create a New Document – (Command N – Mac, Control N – Windows) that will be the same size as the photo you are working on.Copy the layer mask – Edit Menu –> Copy (Command C – Mac, Control C – Windows).Go to the Channels Tab and select the layer mask.If you want the entire layer to be at 30, you would lower the opacity, if you want just the. Where layer opacity controls the transparency of the entire layer at once, a mask gives you more precise controls over very specific areas. Select the layer mask that you’d like to save by clicking on it. A layer mask is something that you apply to a given layer to control the transparency of that layer.
See below for how to save your layer masks as images and reload them into Photoshop to use as layer masks in the future. It can take quite a bit of time to create a layer mask to selectively sharpen a bird in a photograph. I use layer masks a lot to selectively sharpen and reduce the noise in my bird and nature photography. Or maybe the photo didn’t turn out the way you wanted but you didn’t want to invest the time to create the layer mask again. You ended up not processing the photo again due to the time it takes to create the mask. Have you ever wanted to process a photo several times using different techniques that required creating a time consuming layer mask.