Photoshop Tutorial - Masking Curves

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In this video, Mahalo's Photoshop expert Justin Zagri demonstrates how to mask curves around a subject.

Photoshop Tutorial - Masking Curves
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Once you've created a pretty good path outline with the Pen Tool around your character, you'll want to fine tune the path. The Pen Tool creates a mask that is defined by straight angles. Since human beings don't have straight angles, you'll need to make your path curved. To do this, you'll need to use the Pen Tool along with the Selection Tools. 

With the Pen Tool selected, take the cursor over one of the points of the mask until you see a minus sign. Click and get rid of the point. Then, in the same area of the path, click again. You will have created a similar point, only this one contains brackets on either side. Press and hold Ctrl or Command and click and drag the point. Notice that as you drag the mask line becomes curved.

Experiment with these to create complex curves and shapes. The goal is to contour these points perfectly around your character's body.

The brackets also have a specific purpose. As you move them, they contour around the curves to create different effects. These brackets are best to use around sudden changes in angle, such as where a character's cheek meets his or her collar. Click and drag the brackets to adjust the curvature of your mask.

Using this around curves as complicated as a hand is essential to creating a perfect mask. The closer your mask gets to contouring around the subject, the better they will fit into the picture.

Read more by visiting our page at:
http://www.mahalo.com/photoshop-tutorial-masking-curves/

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