Book Image

Mastering Adobe Photoshop 2024

By : Gary Bradley
Book Image

Mastering Adobe Photoshop 2024

By: Gary Bradley

Overview of this book

Unlock the full potential of Photoshop, the go-to app for content creators by mastering its complex tools and features. This book quickly builds on your existing Photoshop knowledge with proven industry techniques, serving as a launchpad to develop professional skills and transformative personal growth. You’ll start by fine-tuning color and tone in your images with non-destructive adjustment layers and conceal content like backdrops with precise masking techniques for fine details like hair. Working through a series of real-world editing projects, crafting realistic brand mockups and traditional marketing collateral, you’ll learn robust methods for building social media assets in Photoshop, from images to animated GIFs and videos. You’ll also be able to bring your typography to life with styles and effects that are simple to edit and store as preset effects. The final section of the book encapsulates all of your learning to create complex montages using advanced masking and compositing techniques. You’ll have fun elevating your designs with surreal art styles and conceptual imagery using retouching, blending, and liquify filters. By the end of this Adobe Photoshop book, you’ll soar to new heights with your designs, creating captivating visuals that leave a lasting impression on your audience.
Table of Contents (19 chapters)
1
Part 1:Raising Your Photoshop Game
5
Part 2:Bringing Brands Front and Center
10
Part 3:Building Visual Components
14
Part 4:World Building

Working with vector masks

So far in this chapter, we’ve seen how pixel-based masks can be used to good effect, but they aren’t the only kind of mask available to us in Photoshop. Vector masks can be used to create pin-sharp edges with shapes or even text.

Creating an editable vignette with a vector mask

Vignettes can be used to create an atmospheric darkened edge around an image or to add a focal point. In this exercise, you’ll use a vector shape as the basis for this effect, combined with feathering of its mask properties:

  1. With Ravine.jpg open from the 03-Masking folder, switch to the Ellipse tool by pressing the U key to activate the correct group of tools, then left-click and hold the mouse button down on the active tool icon to reveal the sub-list of tools. Hover your cursor over the Ellipse tool and left-click on it to make it active.
  2. Go to the options bar and ensure the Mode drop-down menu is set to Shape. Set the Fill color to black by...