layer masks in PSE

[will55]

Is it safe to download a layer masks to work with , in PSE there is no layer masks , isnt this an important retouch tool , if you want to do serious retouching it seems also with PsE you are limited in a lot of ways.
Thanks
will55

[mistermonday]

If you want to do seriuos retouching, you really need the full version of Photoshop. There are many many important tools which are not included in Elements, which was really intended for light duty consumer photo editing. I believe the only masking capability you have in Elements are the masks which are part of Adjustment Layers.
Regards, Murray

[chillin]

See if you could use something from here.

[0lBaldy]

Have you considered downloading Grant's Free Elements Tools which, I think, gives you the ability to use layers and masks in elements

[alira]

I LOVE the free layer mask addon for PSE. i use it all the time. sure you could use the workaround but this is so much easier. I keep it in the favorites tab so i have quick access to it.

[Richard_Lynch]

Or maybe you can get it from the place that started making them in the first place and that puts some time into the forums here:

http://hiddenelements.com

As far as 'serious' people needing Photoshop, poppycock. I can get the same results in Photoshop or Elements. You just have to know the tools. Is it worth it for a beginner to buy Photoshop instead of Elements? Likely not, unless they have some terribly innate sense of hat they are doing. There are enough tools in Elements that will keep people learning literally for YEARS, and it will be 1/10th the cost. When I was saying that years ago, I think people thought I was trying to sell a book... Well my last book was on Photoshop, so why not promote that? Nope... You are a beginner, get Elements until you know why you need Photoshop. Suggestions like from mistermonday usually come when people haven't used Elements and really don't know the difference.

I would ask mistermonday what the differences are. There are some, but really not too many if you know what you are doing.

[Michel B]

Originally Posted by Richard_Lynch

I would ask mistermonday what the differences are. There are some, but really not too many if you know what you are doing.

Yes, Richard, that's a few years I have been practicing Elements, since the hiddenelements book for PSE4. I am still learning something everyday. I'd be curious to see what important features the full CS users think are missing from PSE. When I say important, I do mean important for a given type of processing/editing/retouching purpose.

Most of the time, those' shortcomings' are stated by competent CS users who think they can teach beginners with PSE, without knowing it...

The 'mask' shortcoming is the most cited one. I am on different Elments forums, and I can tell you 99% of their users have masks add-ons and/or know other ways like clipping layer groups or the hijacking of an ajustment layer mask. Adobe wants to show the difference with CS and will never add those masks.

Now, what about 'workarounds'? It's a well known fact that you always have a multiple choice to achieve the same result, and many are discussed in this forum (curves vs blend modes etc...) There is less choice in PSE, but you can most of the time combine several existing tools to replace one in CS. It is comparable to RISC (reduced instruction set computing) in programming. This requires another level of understanding. The ability to combine elementary 'bricks' goes together with understanding how a sophisticated tool can be analysed. The paradox is that everything you can do in PSE can be done in CS while CS users may be handicapped by not finding their usual tools.

Time versus money. Pros need to save time to earn money. Amateurs may love to spend time on retouching with a software 90% cheaper. That does not mean the result will be inferior. Yes, the skills will be different, and PSE users will have to better understand light, light perception, the digital side of editing.

What I do find very interesting is that for many kinds of photography and editing a growing number of people have finally chosen to use LR or another raw converter combined with Elements. And the reason is...
Elements has powerful layers... and masks. All you want for local editing or retouch.

[Richard_Lynch]

Nice post Michel. One thing I believe to be true in my development with image editing is that I developed a better understanding of how to work with images when faced with the 'limitations' of Elements than I did with all the 'power' of Photoshop. I think it was also beneficial that I learned to work with black-and-white and its 'paltry' 255 tones before working with color.

Elements can really be just as fast as Photoshop. There are certain things I would not rely on Elements for.

* 16-bit processing (no layers)
* CMYK color (can be done in Elements)
* Actions (can be done in Elements as well, but the process I found is so tedious I've never bothered to try and explain it to anyone)

Most everything else is a bell, a whistle, or an how-cool-is-that-if-I-only-had-that-my-life-would-be-fulfilled.

I hope that helps.

[Oxford]

I have found your books most interesting and i thank you for writing them.
As you may or may not know, photoshop elements has had support for layers
in 16 bit files since photoshop elements 3. All you need is a keyboard shortcut.

As an experiment, open a camera raw file in 16 bit. Then select the move tool.
Hold down the Alt (option) key while dragging up with the move tool, just until the
image moves, then stop and release the mouse button.
You should now have a new layer.

Oxford

[Michel B]

Originally Posted by Oxford

As an experiment, open a camera raw file in 16 bit. Then select the move tool.
Hold down the Alt (option) key while dragging up with the move tool, just until the
image moves, then stop and release the mouse button.
You should now have a new layer.

Oxford

Yes, it's an experiment... It's fun to re-enable hidden features, but not that much practical. You can create 16 bits layers, you can even save the result as a layered PSD, but not re-open it in 16 bits without flattening. I don't see any way to add masks. At most, you could select with the lasso tool or the quick selection brush to create a clipping layer group.
Most global adjustments you can do in PSE are the same you can already do within ACR. Most, but not all, that's why it is very important to know when 16 bits is really required. My experience is that converting a good 16 bits image to 8 bits just to print it has no negative effect. However adding drama to a dull sky can show visible posterization; or using layer blend modes such as difference can show ugly artifacts (more so due to jpeg compression than from 8 bits limitations). Then it is useful to know exactly what you can do in 16 bits in PSE before combining different 16 bits edited versions after conversion to 8 bits and good use of masks and layers.

[Richard_Lynch]

I guess in some sense that is 'support', but not in a really useful way. In version 6.0 which I just tested in, I could not use a brush tool. I could not paste to the new layer. There were very few things I could do at all. Of course I did not spend a lot of time so perhaps there are additional tricks to toss in the bag that get around those issues as well. Apply a limited set of filters, yes...but that's not what I'd need for image editing. Clipping group masks are acceptable as far as I am concerned...not terribly easy to edit.

However, I will modify my future responses to 'seriously minimalist layer support' as I was not aware of that trick (though it makes me assume there is another way to achieve it without the keyboard).

Did you find that one or learn it elsewhere?

[Oxford]

I found this quite by accident.
I am by no means an expert at photoshop elements,
but i can offer a few tips i've learned thus far.

1. In pse3 and 4 you can run actions from the effects palette. (never had pse5)

2. In pse6, 7 and 8 when you attempt to invoke an action this way, elements
wants to convert to 8 bits. One way around this is to use scripts, which just
so happens are supported in pse6-8. (a good way to get a layer mask)
An easy way to run a script is to open it from the open dialog. Also for scripts
that you might use more often, such as a layer mask, you can name the script to
to show up under the automation tools menu. This is the same as cs3 and cs4.

3. While i can automate almost everything with actions or scripts, the initial
process of the using the move tool and alt(option) key to make a layer via copy,
is proving to be more difficult to automate.

4. As for pasting, pse3 and 4 work pretty much the same as 8 bits. In pse6-8
instead of pasting you have to paste into selection.

5. An easy way to make a blank layer is shift-ctrl-alt-e, select all, then cut.

6. The biggest drawback is not having adjustment layers (not yet anyway).

7. Yes, the paint tools do not seem to work(so far), but you can either make your
selections on an 8 bit copy and transfer them over or for some selectons, such as
masking, you can use the quick selection tool and then fill with black or white.
To paint on an actual image one could fill or stroke selections and paths.

8. You can also make new channels and have vector masks.

I'll admit the times i have edited a 16 bit image from start to finish are rare
indeed. but there have been a couple of times when having layers in 16 bit
have proved useful. I could certainly make due with an 8 bit workflow, but it
is fun to see what photoshop elements can do.

I hope some of this proves useful.

Oxford

[Michel B]

Very smart indeed, Oxford!
Those new tips enabled me to set up a workflow to create 16 bits saturation or color masks based on difference mode.
- one 50% grey layer in luminosity mode to select color (Richard's way)
- one filled with selected color in difference mode
- stamp visible, desat and levels
- optional: stamp visible and adjust with filter/threshold or better gradient map...
The result is as clean as what I can get with the hsb/hsl or smartcurves plug-in which also work in 16 bits.

[Oxford]

Here is a video showing that indeed photoshop elements does support 16 bit editing. Including adjustment layers, smart objects, smart filters, text and shapes.

http://www.youtube.com/user/mtstuner

Oxford