Clipping Mask in Photoshop - using the example of a family image.
Overview :
First open a new document and then open an image file. I chose the image of a family. I will use the Clipping mask effect to highlight only the children figures. Clipping mask is used to highlight one area of an image in respect to the other image. It is like combining two images to get the desired result.
Method 1 > Combining normal image and image with Blur feature
STEP 1 : First drag in an image of a family. Make Two copies of this layer using the shortcut CTRL + J and hide the actual image. Keep the actual image for future reference. Name one copy as > ORIGINAL and the other copy as > EFFECT. Now you will have two image layers.
STEP 2: Now select the layer > EFFECT and use the rectanle marquee tool and select the entire image. Now go to Filter menu > Blur > Gaussian Blur and set the radius to = 5 pixels. Now you will notice the blur effect to the EFFECT layer.
STEP 3 : Use the ' Rectangular Marquee tool' and select an area around the child. Now create a new layer and name it = CLIP. After drawing the selection using rectangular marquee tool, select the CLIP layer and press = ALT + Backspace. This is to fill the rectangular selection in the CLIP layer. You can set any color to the fill in the color box. The color has no effect here as it is going to be masked.
STEP 4 : See that the layer are arranged as Original layer on top, below which is the CLIP layer and below the CLIP layer is the EFFECT layer. Now select the ORIGINAL layer in the layer box, press ALT key in the keyboard and try moving the mouse below the ORIGINAL layer and above the CLIP layer and correctly in the intersection, the mouse icon changes, then click the intersection. A clipping mask is created. You can also directly go to Layer menu and select the option clipping mask > reveal all to get the same function. Note : Select the ORIGINAL layer to give the clipping mask. You will already see the desired effect. The child is highlighted, whereas the parent's image is blurred even though originally the blur was applied to the whole family including the child. You can also use the Move tool and select the CLIP layer and move the same shape over the other faces/area if necessary.
STEP 5 : Now to highlight the rectangular area let us apply stroke. Right click the CLIP layer and select the option called > Blending options. Under that set the following settings for Stroke. Stroke settings > The stroke size is 3 px. The stroke is positioned = Inside and Blend mode is = Normal and the opacity is 100 %. The stroke style used is = Pattern. The pattern style used is the default available > Optical Checkerboard. The pattern is scaled to 100 %. Layers are arranged as the following >
Method 2 > Combining normal image and image with Cutout filter effect
STEP 1 : Drag in an image of a family. Make Two copies of this layer using the shortcut CTRL + J and hide the actual image. Keep the actual image for future reference. Name one copy as > ORIGINAL and the other copy as > EFFECT. Now you will have two image layers.
STEP 2 : Now select the layer > EFFECT and go to Filter menu > Filter Gallery > Artistic > Cutout and set the Number of levels to 3, Edge simplicity is 0 (Zero) and Edge Fidelity to 3. These settings rae very important to get the desired settings. Use the same values.
STEP 3 : Now for the purpose of the clipping, instead of using the boring rectangular shape, let us use a custom shape. Go to the tools box, and using the Custom shape tool, select the shape > HEART. Use only this heart shape variety. Do not use Heart frame shape, as it will not work on this. Draw the Heart shape in such a way that it fits the child's face perfectly. Name this shape layer as SHAPE. The fill color again has no importance as it is going to be masked.
STEP 4 : See that the layer are arranged as Original layer on top, below which is the SHAPE layer and below the CLIP layer is the EFFECT layer. Now select the ORIGINAL layer in the layer box, press ALT key in the keyboard and try moving the mouse below the ORIGINAL layer and above the SHAPE layer and correctly in the intersection, the mouse icon changes, then click the intersection. A clipping mask is created. You can also directly go to Layer menu and select the option clipping mask > reveal all to get the same function. Note : Select the ORIGINAL layer to give the clipping mask. You will see the desired effect.
STEP 5 : Since plain area will be boring, let us add bevel and stroke effects. Right click the SHAPE layer and select the option called > Blending options. Under that set the following settings for Stroke.
- Stroke settings > The stroke size is 5 px. The stroke is positioned = Center and Blend mode is = Normal and the opacity is 100 %. The stroke fill style used is = Gradient. The gradient is the custom made gradient. First select the default available black and white gradient and click the NEW option and give a name to this gradient. Set the two colors for the gradient as # fc0303 (Red shade) and # d20db9 (Purple shade). Set the Style as = Reflected. This is very important as the reflected style gives a perfect look. The gradient is placed at an angle of 90 degree and scaled to 100 %.
- Bevel and Emboss settings > The bevel used is= Inner Bevel and technique used is = Smooth and with Depth= 600% and direction set to = UP. The size is 13 px and soften level is 0px. The contour used is = Llinear Gloss contour and Highlight color is white and mode is = Screen and shadow color is Grey (# aca0a0) and mode is = multiply and both set at 75%. The bevel is placed at an angle of 120 degree. Layers are arranged as the following >
Method 3 > Combining normal image and image with Photocopy filter effect.
STEP 1 : Drag in an image of a family. This time use an image having two kids. Make Two copies of this layer using the shortcut CTRL + J and hide the actual image. Keep the actual image for future reference. Name one copy as > ORIGINAL and the other copy as > EFFECT. Now you will have two image layers.
STEP 2 : First set the foreground color to # 0033ff (Dark blue shade) and the background color as # 02e2f6 ( Light blue shade) in the color bob in the tools section. Now select the layer > EFFECT and go to Filter menu > Filter Gallery > Sketch > Photocopy and set the Detail to 7 and Darkness to 8. You will see that the desired photocopy effect obtained is the combination of the above set dark blue and light blue colors. Similarly you can combine two different colors in the color box to get the desired result.
STEP 3 : Now for the purpose of the clipping, use the Magic wand tool available with lasso selection tool in tools box and draw around the girl alone. Now create a new layer and name it = MAGIC. After drawing the selection using magic wand tool, select the MAGIC layer and press = ALT + Backspace. This is to fill the selection in the MAGIC layer. You can set any color to the fill in the color box. The color has no effect here as it is going to be masked.
STEP 4 : See that the layer are arranged as Original layer on top, below which is the MAGIC layer and below the MAGIC layer is the EFFECT layer. Now select the ORIGINAL layer in the layer box, press ALT key in the keyboard and try moving the mouse below the ORIGINAL layer and above the SHAPE layer and correctly in the intersection, the mouse icon changes, then click the intersection. A clipping mask is created. You can also directly go to Layer menu and select the option clipping mask > reveal all to get the same function. Note : Select the ORIGINAL layer to give the clipping mask. You will see the desired effect. The layers are arranges as the following >
Method 4 > Combining normal image and Saturated image
STEP 1 : Drag in an image of a family. Make Two copies of this layer using the shortcut CTRL + J and hide the actual image. Keep the actual image for future reference. Name one copy as > ORIGINAL and the other copy as > EFFECT. Now you will have two image layers.
STEP 2 : Now select the EFFECT layer and use the SPONGE Tool in the tools box and set the mode to Saturate and and flow to 50 % and the Brush size is 60. Now brush the image in the EFFECT layer. You will notice that the images grows brighter and highlighted.
STEP 3 : Now for the purpose of the clipping, Use the ' Elliptical Marquee tool' and select an area around the child. Now create a new layer and name it = CLIP 1. After drawing the selection using elliptical marquee tool, select the CLIP 1 layer and press = ALT + Backspace. This is to fill the elliptical selection in the CLIP 1 layer. You can set any color to the fill in the color box. The color has no effect here as it is going to be masked. Now again use the same ' Elliptical Marquee tool' and select an area around the other child. Now create a new layer and name it = CLIP 2. After drawing the selection using elliptical marquee tool, select the CLIP 2 layer and press = ALT + Backspace. This is to fill the elliptical selection in the CLIP 2 layer. Now there are two layers namely CLIP1 and CLIP 2 for both the kids faces.
STEP 4 : Make duplicate copies of the CLIP 1 and CLIP 2 layers using CTRL + J and hide them. Select the resulted two copies layers ( select one copy and CTRL + click the other copy to select both at the same time) and right click and select the option > Merge layers. Once the copies are merged, name the merged layer as MERGED. This single MERGED layer has two filled shapes.
STEP 5 : See that the layer are arranged as Original layer on top, below which is the MERGED layer and below the MERGED layer is the EFFECT layer. Now select the ORIGINAL layer in the layer box, press ALT key in the keyboard and try moving the mouse below the ORIGINAL layer and above the CLIP layer and correctly in the intersection, the mouse icon changes, then click the intersection. A clipping mask is created. You can also directly go to Layer menu and select the option clipping mask > reveal all to get the same function. Note : Select the ORIGINAL layer to give the clipping mask. You will already see the desired effect. The children are highlighted but are not effective enough, so let us add some blending options. Select the MERGED layer and right click and select Blending options. Set the following adjustments :
- Bevel and Emboss settings > The bevel used is= EMBOSS and technique used is = Smooth and with Depth= 830 % and direction set to = UP. The size is 6 px and soften level is 6 px. The contour used is = Llinear Gloss contour and Highlight color is white and mode is = Screen and shadow color is Grey (# aca0a0) and mode is = multiply and both set at 75%. The bevel is placed at an angle of 120 degree.
- Stroke settings > The stroke size is 3 px. The stroke is positioned = Outside and Blend mode is = Normal and the opacity is 100 %. The stroke fill style used is = Gradient. The Gradient is the default available black and white gradient. Set the Style as = Linear. The gradient is placed at an angle of 90 degree and scaled to 100 %.
- Color Overlay settings > The blend mode is = Normal. The color used is # 0af63c (Green shade) and opacity is reduced to 25 %. The layers are arranged in the following order.
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