Introduction to Quick Mask Mode in Photoshop



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Introduction to Quick Mask Mode in Photoshop

This article is part of our series Photo Editing 101 by Ian Pullen. This series will cover all of the basics of using Photoshop for editing photos. If you’re just getting started with Photoshop or photo editing, or if you’re looking to improve your skills in this area, this series will provide an excellent foundation. If you want to make sure that you don’t miss future articles you can subscribe to our newsletter or follow us on Twitter, Google+, or Facebook. You can also find the articles that have already been published by visiting the Photo Editing 101 course page.

The Quick Mask Mode in Photoshop is easy to overlook, but it can be a handy way to quickly make and refine selections. It’s perhaps the fact that the icon that activates the feature sits, almost as an after thought, at the very base of the Tools palette, that makes it easy to miss. However, once you’re aware of the Quick Mask feature, you should see how it can be a useful tool to add to your photo processing work flow.

What is Quick Mask Mode?

Introduction to Quick Mask Mode in Photoshop

While activated, Quick Mask adds a new temporary channel labelled Quick Mask to the Channels palette and this channel is automatically selected. You can paint onto this channel using any of the painting and drawing tools in Photoshop. When activated, the Foreground/Background colors are set to black and white respectively. Using black, by default you will see that you are painting in red with 50% opacity and if you then paint over this red with the foreground color set to white, you will see that you erase the red. When deactivated, by default, any area that wasn’t painted over with red will become a selection and any adjustments that you make will only be applied to this area.

How Do You Activate Quick Mask Mode?

Introduction to Quick Mask Mode in Photoshop

As mentioned, the Quick Mask icon sits right at the base of the Tools palette, represented by a circle within a rectangle. Each time that  you click the icon, it toggles between active and inactive. You can also switch the mode on and off by hitting the Q key on your keyboard.

If you already have a selection made when you activate Quick Mask Mode, you’ll see that the area outside the selection is automatically covered in the semi-transparent red. In the screen shot above, you should see that most, but not all of the green stalk of the strawberry is uncovered by the mask. This was the result of making a quick selection of the stalk using the Magic Wand tool before switching to Quick Mask Mode.

How Do Change the Appearance of Quick Mask Mode?

Introduction to Quick Mask Mode in Photoshop

It is possible to change the appearance of Quick Mask Mode and also its default behavior. If you double-click on the Quick Mask Mode icon at the bottom of the Tools palette, you’ll see the Quick Mask Options dialog open. You can use this to change the behavior so that the mask color indicates the selected area if that feels more intuitive to you. You can also change the color and opacity of the mask color. In the screen shot, you should see that I clicked on the color square and used the color picker to change the color to blue as this would be easier to see against the red of the strawberry in my photo.

How Do You Use Quick Mask Mode?

Introduction to Quick Mask Mode in Photoshop

This screen shot shows the result of a multiple selection on the green stalk using the Magic Wand tool. It may not be obvious, but it hasn’t selected all of stalk as there are quite a few different shades and colors in there. You may also notice that the selection includes some of the darker red of the strawberry, in the shade under the fronds of the stalk. Obviously both of these are issues that need resolving in order to produce a clean and accurate selection of the stalk.

One option would be to continue adding to and subtracting from the mask using the Magic Wand until a clean selection had been made. However, this is also a good example of when switching to Quick Mask Mode might be a good option.

Introduction to Quick Mask Mode in Photoshop

With Quick Mask Mode activated, you can see how some of the green is covered by the mask and some of the strawberry isn’t. You’ll note that I’ve switched the Quick Mask color to blue to make it easier to see with this subject.

Introduction to Quick Mask Mode in Photoshop

In this screen shot, you can see how now most of the stalk is uncovered by the mask and the areas of the strawberry that were unmasked are now hidden. This was achieved using the Brush tool, painting over the stalk with the Foreground color set to white and painting over the strawberry with the color set to black. While the result isn’t perfect, you can see how this technique can quickly allow you to select areas by painting around them.

Introduction to Quick Mask Mode in Photoshop

This last screen shot shows the resulting selection after Quick Mask Mode was deactivated.

Conclusion

Photoshop offers multiple ways to make selections and using Quick Mask Mode can be a great way to refine selections made with these other tools.

See more articles in the Photo Editing 101 series.