Masking is an indispensable technique in Photoshop whose value shouldn’t be overlooked. Both background and image masking are essential. An expert is able to mask an object together with the background to come up with something amazing. Background masking involves a number of activities in Photoshop to achieve desired results. Photoshop is widely used to create product images that are attractive to customers.  The background can be easily masked to produce a suitable one. It is considered a better solution than other tools by professionals. Here are some techniques for masking using Photoshop;

Background masking by Eraser tool

The eraser tool comes in handy when we want to remove some parts of the picture. It is located in the Photoshop tools panel. Erasing is very complex and it is advisable to use the eraser only when the target area is small. The eraser tool also doesn’t achieve clarity and sharpness since the edges of the target area tend to be blurry. The deletion task by the eraser tool is tedious. Features included in the eraser tool include opacity, hardness, size and a number of brush sizes you can use.

Remove Background using Magic eraser tool

The Magic Eraser tool is more flexible than the eraser, and it is well suited to eliminate unwanted areas in a picture. Segments can be removed with a single click. Using this tool requires some calibration to achieve accurate results. For instance, in order to remove larger areas, the tolerance needs to be increased and the opposite for smaller areas. The disadvantage with the magic eraser is that small bit of background are left after erasing. Creating a new layer with a contrasting color can help identify these remnants and remove them.

Cut Out Image using Background Eraser tool

If your main aim is to change the entire background, the background eraser tool is perfect for you. It is not very complicated, and a beginner can use it. A background with solid plain colors is easy to remove and is the type of background you want to use this tool for. If you want to extract the object from the background, click on the image and drag the cursor around the object edges. The tool will automatically add edges to the object, and you can remove the background.

Remove The Background by Magic Wand

The Magic Wand is very similar to the magic eraser in that you add selections which you want to edit with a mouse click. When you make a mistake, it’s not necessary to undo the task. The Alt and Shift keys are very important in the Magic Wand tool. The shift key is used to add more selection area while Alt is for reducing the selected area. Ensure you hold the mouse button while selecting and deselecting. Using the Magic Wand, you can remove the whole background in a few clicks.

Remove the Background using Quick selection tool

The quick selection tool is similar to the Magic Wand but lacks tolerance settings.  Click and drag on the screen to select a segment of the picture. Deselecting is simple using alt key and dragging the mouse opposite to the selection which automatically deselects. All these Photoshop tools can be used to mask the background instead of replacing it altogether. Masking produces required results and is especially useful for product images.