WEBVTT 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 PROF VAUGHN: Okay, and this video is at using a gradient as a transparency mask. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So we think of layer masks as revealing or concealing using black or white paint, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and a range of grays. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We can use a gradient that is set from black to white to create a really subtle 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 blend inside of a layer mask. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This gives you a lot of blending opportunity. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So let's do a really obvious example first, I have a colour photograph open, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I'm just gonna do a layer adjustment, adjustment layer, I'll do it black and 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 white so you can have a quick view of how this might work. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So of course we know our adjustment layers come with gradients. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This is the effect, this is the- I'm sorry, they come with a layer mask. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That is the layer mask. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So if we wanted to use a gradient to blend in the layer mask as a method of 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 transparency blending, you could still use that gradient tool. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 When you look at your gradients, you're gonna pick the black and white 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 version here. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So this is black and white. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Whether or not you reverse it is up to you, remember the way a gradient in a mask 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 with black and white will work; black is going to reveal, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 white is going to conceal. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So, let's just do, um, let's do a radial gradient to see what this might look like. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I'm gonna click and drag, now remember I've made sure I'm on the layer 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 mask thumbnail. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So this is isolated, it's a pretty small gradient, let's make it a little bit bigger. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And it's pretty soft, but you can see I've got black and white now here in the middle 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 radiating out in my layer mask. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 If you wanted to do a really weird, kind of, small spot, you could. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Let's look at a linear gradient, now I've sort of moved from black and white, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 shifted it slowly into colour, because again the black and white in the layer mask is 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 revealing of concealing, so the white in this case is showing what's underneath. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So that is a a adjustment layer. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 If we were thinking about using these, um, to perhaps make some actual editing 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 adjustments, we could think about not using them for creative purpose, but for 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 perhaps fixing an exposure issue. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So in this particular image, the land is well exposed, it has good contrast, but 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the sky, because the sun is probably over here somewhere, is a little too bright. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's a little bit blown out, we're losing our contrast. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You can very easily use, um, an adjustment layer in conjunction with a layer mask to 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 fix that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So let's do a curve. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You could use your, um, line here, you can use your scrubby slider. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Let's try this scrubby slider, so I'm gonna come over here, I know this is the area I 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 want to adjust. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I'm just gonna pull it down, I'm pulling it down, I don't wanna go so far that I get 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 this banding, but I' gonna just pull the sky a little but darker, and then 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 close that out. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So, before it was like that, now it's like this, so I'm really- I'm happy with this 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 kind of blue happening over here and it's- it's dimmed it down a bit. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But what I don't want to do is effect the landscape, so in this case I'm gonna 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 use a gradient inside the mask, and I'll use a linear gradient. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I'm gonna just move from the top to the bottom, I'm gonna click and drag. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I'm gonna actually start a little bit lower 'cuz I want most of the gradient 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the sort of, white portion, to be up high, and I want it to start to blend. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So I'm gonna maybe dome where in here, and let's go actually a little bit more, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 a little bit more straight on down. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Okay, let's see how we're doing. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So if I turn it off and on, so I've still got my mount- it's affecting these hills 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 a little bit much because of this angle, maybe I'll start it from about there. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's still a but too angled, that's a better angle here, so I turn it off and 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 on you can see there's a nice blend in the sky, it's still getting my mountains 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 because I don't have a perfectly straight horizon line, but that's okay, because I 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 know I can actually just grab my brush, make a bigger sized brush, and continue 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to work inside this mask. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So I want to paint with black, reading this layer mask here, and let's open- 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that looks pretty good, so maybe I'll just come in and kind of get the mountain 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 out of the layer mask, so that would be a pretty easy fix. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You would want to zoom in and do a little bit more detailed work, but if I just kind 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of quickly do this. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I need a slightly harder brush. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I will have edited, essentially, just the sky, and made a nice subtle kind 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of difference. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Again, you would clean these edges up, but for purposes of demonstration this 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 gives you a good idea of how you can use a layer mask inside an adjustment 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 layer to adjust something in a more seamless fashion.