Masks are a versatile tool used in Photoshop to hide parts of layers or for blending layers together seamlessly. We show you how in our Adobe Photoshop courses. 
In this example we have used a couple of masks – one for making the camera reflection fade off, and one for cropping the image of the girl in the lens. First create a blank canvas, then copy an image of a camera into it. Copy the camera layer (Alt & drag) and invert it: Ctrl+T > right-click > Flip Vertical. To fade off the reflection add a layer mask (button on the bottom of the Layers panel). Then choose the default black & white colours, and the Gradient tool, and click & drag over the reflection image. Press Shift to keep it horizontal – note that the size of the transition will vary according to how far you drag.
Then copy in the image of the girl. Make a circular selection around her face (with a Feather value of 2 or 3 pixels), and again click on the Layer Mask icon to mask off the area outside the selection. Note that with masks you select what you want to keep. You can also adjust the mask with a black and white, soft-edged paint brush.
The final step is to create a fake horizon. We first sampled a blue from the camera lens with the Eyedropper tool, giving us blue and white in our colours at the bottom of the Toolbox. Then we switched to the Gradient tool and clicked & dragged a small transition on the background layer.
Many more tips and techniques can be found at the Adobe website. And see many examples of our clients’ work on our Facebook page.
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