Using A Photo To Mask Itself In Photoshop

Step 11: Boost The Color With A Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer

The image is looking good, except for one thing - the colors are a bit dull. We can give them a boost using Hue/Saturation. To do that, click on the New Adjustment Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette:

Then choose Hue/Saturation from the list of Adjustment Layers:

This brings up Photoshop's Hue/Saturation dialog box. I'm going to increase the Saturation by about 25% by dragging the Saturation slider bar to the right. Keep an eye on your image in the Document Window to see a preview of what's happening with your colors as you drag:

When you're happy with your Saturation value, click OK to exit out of the dialog box, and you're done!

Here, once again, is my original image for comparison:

And here is my final result:

And there we have it! This is just one example of what you can do by using an image as its own layer mask. Experiment on your own by applying different filters to the mask or to the image itself, using different colors or other images for the background, flipping the mask vertically or horizontally, whatever you can think of. You're bound to find lots of creative uses for it.

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