WEBVTT 00:00:02.420 --> 00:00:06.330 PROF VAUGHN: Okay, and this video is going to look at using a gradient as 00:00:06.330 --> 00:00:08.381 a transparency mask. 00:00:08.381 --> 00:00:14.738 So we think of layer masks as revealing or concealing using black or white paint, 00:00:14.738 --> 00:00:16.057 and a range of grays. 00:00:16.057 --> 00:00:21.645 We can use a gradient that is set from black to white to create a really subtle 00:00:21.645 --> 00:00:23.964 blend inside of a layer mask. 00:00:23.964 --> 00:00:26.416 This gives you a lot of blending opportunity. 00:00:26.416 --> 00:00:31.440 So let's do a really obvious example first, I have a colour photograph open, 00:00:31.440 --> 00:00:36.293 I'm just gonna do a layer adjustment, adjustment layer, I'll do it black and 00:00:36.293 --> 00:00:39.715 white so you can have a quick view of how this might work. 00:00:39.715 --> 00:00:43.716 So of course we know our adjustment layers come with gradients. 00:00:43.716 --> 00:00:48.589 This is the effect, this is the- I'm sorry, they come with a layer mask. 00:00:48.589 --> 00:00:50.624 That is the layer mask. 00:00:50.624 --> 00:00:55.813 So if we wanted to use a gradient to blend in the layer mask as a method of 00:00:55.813 --> 00:00:59.265 transparency blending, you could still use that gradient tool. 00:00:59.265 --> 00:01:03.020 When you look at your gradients, you're gonna pick the black and white 00:01:03.020 --> 00:01:04.171 version here. 00:01:04.171 --> 00:01:05.707 So this is black and white. 00:01:05.707 --> 00:01:10.844 Whether or not you reverse it is up to you, remember the way a gradient in a mask 00:01:10.844 --> 00:01:13.965 with black and white will work; black is going to reveal, 00:01:13.965 --> 00:01:16.216 white is going to conceal. 00:01:16.216 --> 00:01:21.256 So, let's just do, um, let's do a radial gradient to see what this might look like. 00:01:21.256 --> 00:01:25.926 I'm gonna click and drag, now remember I've made sure I'm on the layer 00:01:25.926 --> 00:01:28.378 mask thumbnail. 00:01:28.378 --> 00:01:32.381 So this is isolated, it's a pretty small gradient, let's make it a little bit bigger. 00:01:32.381 --> 00:01:38.607 And it's pretty soft, but you can see I've got black and white now here in the middle 00:01:38.607 --> 00:01:44.044 radiating out in my layer mask. 00:01:44.044 --> 00:01:47.531 If you wanted to do a really weird, kind of, small spot, you could. 00:01:47.531 --> 00:01:52.503 Let's look at a linear gradient, now I've sort of moved from black and white, 00:01:52.503 --> 00:01:58.557 shifted it slowly into colour, because again the black and white in the layer mask is 00:01:58.557 --> 00:02:04.077 revealing or concealing, so the white in this case is showing what's underneath. 00:02:04.077 --> 00:02:06.584 So that is a a adjustment layer. 00:02:06.584 --> 00:02:13.581 If we were thinking about using these, um, to perhaps make some actual editing 00:02:13.581 --> 00:02:17.853 adjustments, we could think about not using them for creative purpose, but for 00:02:17.853 --> 00:02:21.290 perhaps fixing an exposure issue. 00:02:21.290 --> 00:02:27.230 So in this particular image, the land is well exposed, it has good contrast, but 00:02:27.230 --> 00:02:31.667 the sky, because the sun is probably over here somewhere, is a little bit too bright. 00:02:31.667 --> 00:02:34.448 It's a little bit blown out, we're losing our contrast. 00:02:34.448 --> 00:02:41.108 You can very easily use, um, an adjustment layer in conjunction with a layer mask to 00:02:41.108 --> 00:02:42.238 fix that. 00:02:42.238 --> 00:02:44.005 So let's do a curve. 00:02:44.706 --> 00:02:49.428 You could use your, um, line here, you can use your scrubby slider. 00:02:49.428 --> 00:02:52.927 Let's try this scrubby slider, so I'm gonna come over here, I know this is the area I 00:02:52.927 --> 00:02:54.433 want to adjust. 00:02:54.433 --> 00:02:58.993 I'm just gonna pull it down, I'm pulling it down, I don't wanna go so far that I get 00:02:58.993 --> 00:03:03.013 this banding, but I'm gonna just pull the sky a little but darker, and then 00:03:03.013 --> 00:03:04.064 close that out. 00:03:04.064 --> 00:03:08.735 So, before it was like that, now it's like this, so I'm really- I'm happy with this 00:03:08.735 --> 00:03:12.173 kind of blue happening over here and it's- it's dimmed it down a bit. 00:03:12.173 --> 00:03:17.645 But what I don't want to do is effect the landscape, so in this case I'm gonna 00:03:17.645 --> 00:03:22.951 use a gradient inside the mask, and I'll use a linear gradient. 00:03:22.951 --> 00:03:29.123 I'm gonna just move from the top to the bottom, I'm gonna click and drag. 00:03:29.123 --> 00:03:33.144 I'm gonna actually start a little bit lower 'cuz I want most of the gradient 00:03:33.144 --> 00:03:40.384 the sort of, white portion, to be up high, and I want it to start to blend. 00:03:40.384 --> 00:03:45.279 So I'm gonna maybe somewhere in here, and let's go actually a little bit more, 00:03:45.279 --> 00:03:48.302 a little bit more straight on down. 00:03:48.485 --> 00:03:49.319 Okay, let's see how we're doing. 00:03:49.319 --> 00:03:53.925 So if I turn it off and on, so I've still got my mount- it's affecting these hills 00:03:53.925 --> 00:04:01.149 a little bit much because of this angle, maybe I'll start it from about there. 00:04:03.534 --> 00:04:08.152 It's still a bit too angled, that's a better angle here, so I turn it off and 00:04:08.152 --> 00:04:12.857 on you can see there's a nice blend in the sky, it's still getting my mountains 00:04:12.857 --> 00:04:17.096 because I don't have a perfectly straight horizon line, but that's okay, because I 00:04:17.096 --> 00:04:24.520 know I can actually just grab my brush, make a bigger sized brush, and continue 00:04:24.520 --> 00:04:26.671 to work inside this mask. 00:04:26.671 --> 00:04:31.826 So I want to paint with black, reading this layer mask here, and let's open- 00:04:31.826 --> 00:04:37.964 that looks pretty good, so maybe I'll just come in and kind of get the mountain 00:04:37.964 --> 00:04:42.137 out of the layer mask, so that would be a pretty easy fix. 00:04:42.137 --> 00:04:46.551 You would want to zoom in and do a little bit more detailed work, but if I just kind 00:04:46.551 --> 00:04:49.076 of quickly do this. 00:04:49.076 --> 00:04:51.745 I need a slightly harder brush. 00:04:53.614 --> 00:05:02.093 I will have edited, essentially, just the sky, and made a nice subtle kind 00:05:02.093 --> 00:05:03.427 of difference. 00:05:03.427 --> 00:05:07.014 Again, you would clean these edges up, but for purposes of demonstration this 00:05:07.014 --> 00:05:12.603 gives you a good idea of how you can use a layer mask inside an adjustment 00:05:12.603 --> 00:05:16.357 layer to adjust something in a more seamless fashion.