Unmasking The Mystery Of Photoshop Masks

Well, it was a mystery to me anyway. I'm not really a expert level photoshop user even though I've been using it for around 10 years. For me, it was always just a high powered retouching tool with some cool effects but I never really had time to get that concerned with it. As I became a little more serious about my photography, I learned that nearly every serious photographer retouches their work. I started using layers in photoshop to do a little more but the idea of masks was something my slightly ADHD self just didn't want to take on.

Enter the eyes. Yes the eyes. I noticed a lot of photographers put out portraits where the eyes just seemed real. I always thought, "It must be nice to have such expensive lenses to work with.", knowing that the good lenses range from $1,200 to $6,000! But then I noticed that even when I rented expensive lenses, my shots lacked that clarity. I finally asked one photographer her secret- turns out it's photoshop layers and masks with a high pass filter effect. It's hard to explain and maybe that's why I always avoided masks when reading about them because the written versions of tutorials complicated the actual use which isn't that complex after all.

Here's my video tutorial, mistakes and all (I think that actually helps to see the process visually with corrections) The picture I chose is actually one I figured was a nice "captured moment" but with too many flaws for it to be shared. This technique made the picture "sharable".