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A friend of mine has posted this in two other forums so I thought I'd share it here - it's pretty well writen.
SWadSomeone started a thread in another forum I visit, and since I spent a little time documenting some stuff, I thought I'd start it over here as well. If you have anything to share, feel free to post. I'm always looking for new tips. Don't feel that you have to go insane like I did and document with the detailed toolbar pictures either.Here is the original image:
Layer Masks
One I use quite often is Layer Masks. It's under Layer>Add Layer Mask>Reveal All.
I use it all the time. It allows you to mask out parts of the image to show layers below without losing any of your image. And you can use any of the painting tools on the toolbar to add/remove image. The only difference between Reveal All and Hide All is whether you start with the image viewable or hidden. I always use Reveal All for obvious reasons. Once you create it, it shows up in the layer you currently have selected to the right of the thumbnail.
By default, the mask and the picture are anchored together, but you can click the chain between them and they will move independent of each other. Also notice that your color swatches are black and white.
Black removes picture (and you can use the paintbrush, airbrush, gradient tool, etc.) and white replaces it. Also notice that as you paint, the thumbnail also shows what you are masking in black & white.
I've colored the background half green so you can see the transparency. But notice what I circled. If I was just erasing the image, I'd be screwed, unless I went back to my history and started over. But since the image is really still there, I just switch from black to white and repaint to "reveal' it again. I can go back and reveal the tire without compromising the great feathered edge around the shadow. Gotta love this tool.It really takes the pain out of mistakes when you are erasing parts of images, because you aren't really erasing. The image is still there.
By the way, the reflection was constructed in a separate layer. Basically, I had to vertically flip a copy of the car and grossly distort it to get the side and the wheels of the car to match up, and repeat the procedure with another copy of the car to get the back end to match. I put both layers together and filled in the "bottom" of the car, as well as reconstructing a little tire that wasn't there. I used the layer mask on that reflection layer, and airbrushed away most of the reflection so that the real car shadow overpowered it. Made for a very cool effect.
