photo masks

Using a Photo as a Background

I’ve seen lots of gorgeous pages in the galleries recently in which scrappers have used a photo in place of a background paper. Being a fan of any technique that puts photos front and center, I decided to give it a try.

Sometimes trying something new can be a bit intimidating and I went through several processes until I found one that worked for me. Thought I’d share it here for others who may want to try.

First I identified a photo I wanted to use as my primary background photo. We spent a few days this summer with friends an family on Jetty Island and my mom got this great shot that capture the sand, water and surrounding mountains.

Next I ‘hide’ the photo background so I could scrap my remaining photos. You can hide and layer by clicking on the eye icon to the left of it in the layers palette. To scrap the rest of my photos, I decided to use this template from Cindy Schneider’s Set 96.

I focused only on creating the cluster around the photos and deleted the templates background layers.

Unhiding my background photo by clicking on the eye icon again, I ended up with something that looks like this.

I resized and moved the photo cluster. To easily move them all at once, I held down the control key and clicked on each layer in the layers palette. Then I clicked the links icon (looks like a chain) at the bottom of the layers palette. Once linked, layers will move and resize together. See the Creating Your First Page tutorial for an introduction to moving and resizing. I ended up moving around a few elements and added my title.

As a last touch I used a mask from Sanded Photo Masks 2 to rough up the edges on the main photo. A tutorial on photo masks is available here.

Credits: Shore Thing by Misty Cato and Amanda Heimann, Sanded Photo Masks 2 by Misty Cato, Cindy’s Layered Templates Set 96

Using Photo Masks in Photoshop

December 30, 2010 By Misty 1 Comment

I’ve had requests from a few of you asking how to use my Sanded Photo Masks. Below is the process I use to incorporate them into a page. The screen shots and directions are written for PSCS3, but should also apply to PSCS2 and most versions of PSE.

Open a layout (or a blank canvas) and open a photo mask.

With the move tool active, click on the photo mask and drag it onto your layout canvas.

Open a photo and click and drag it onto the layout canvas. Position it on top of the photo mask.

Go to Layer > Create Clipping Mask, or keystroke Shift+Ctrl+G to ‘clip’ the photo to your photo mask.

With your move tool active, you should see a dotted line and 8 small boxes around the perimeter of your photo. Move and/or resize your photo until the portion you want is visible in the photo mask. For detailed instructions on moving and resizing review the Creating Your First Page in PSE tutorial.

At this point you have applied the photo mask. In my case, some of the distressed areas of the mask cut out too much of my son’s face. You can ‘fill in’ areas of a mask by using a brush on the mask itself.

Optional: Select the photo mask layer from the layers palette. Select the brush tool from the tools palette and choose a round brush.

Click and drag on your canvas any areas in which you want to ‘fill in’ more photo (in my case, I’ve filled in around my son’s face).

Right click on the photo layer in the layers palette and select Merge Down from the drop down menu.

The photo mask portion is complete. Here is my finished page.

Credits: Background Papers from Deckle Edge Papers, other papers, crab and waves from the Going Places Collection, buttons from ABC and 123, alpha from Cheery Glen, straight stitching from First Glimpse, messy stitches from Bad Sewing Machine IV by Traci Reed, journaling font DJB Emilys

Using a Photo as a Background

Using Photo Masks in Photoshop

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