Preserved Topic: Masks

Honestly I have no friggin clue what a mask is, how to use it, what it does, i know nothing. A little help? Thanks

masks you ask ... big topic, but in a nutshell here is the low down
PS has 3 major types of masking operations
1. Quick mask - temporay selection mode tool
2. Layer mask - temporary single layer mask
3. Alpha channels -permanent mask effecting all channels

A mask can be thought of as 'covering up' or 'revealing' certain areas of your image.

Depending on what you want to cover or reveal, will depend on type of mask you could choose. For example, quick mask enables you 'visually' paint a selection while in quick mask mode allowing to use all teh regular paint tools (good for quick stuff) but it is only a mode and not a permanent condtion, while applying a layer mask allows you to cover or reveal parts of just that certain layer! Making an alpha channel (mask) allow you to permanently store a selection as a new channel which can be applied to individual or the whole document (image).

When working with layer masks or alpha channels, rememeber that these can only be represented in grayscale. i.e. 255 shades, white (255) being revealing and black (0) being covered. All shades in between representing a certain amount of transparency. So when you are working with a mask you will notice that your colours availble will be shades of gray.

The best thing I suggest is to play around experimenting. There are tutorials out there, so search away and enjoy! hope that helps a bit

~Vp~