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Good morning!! I hope everyone is still having a great time with our challenges!! I know Liv and I have been having a blast doing this and seeing all the great pages and photos in our gallery!

I have to apologize for some of you having trouble getting the downloads I hosted on my server! I am not sure why some of you could get the files no problem and others could not.

Okay are you ready for today's challenge!? It is all about photo masks and overlays — my favorite thing in the world! Today I took a sample from some of my masks & dreamy photo overlays for our freebie.



***SORRY DOWNLOAD LINK HAS EXPIRED ***

The challenge is to take a favorite photo — one that speaks to your soul — and use either a mask, or a dreamy overlay — or BOTH!! to make your photo SING!!!

I've got a few examples for you of how I used the masks, overlays and a combination of each — along with different layer styles to make my photos into something special. Ready!?

Okay... first I took a photo of my chicken salad (I am weird that way)! and just created a mask, using one of my watercolor masks. Make sure that the mask is in the layer below your photo and hit CMD+G (or CTRL+G on PC) to make a quick mask.

EXAMPLE 1 - MASK ONLY




EXAMPLE 2 - DREAMY PHOTO OVERLAY COMBINATION WITH LAYER STYLES

On this second image, I used a combination of dreamy photo overlays (and used the selection of the overlay in a LAYER MASK), along with different layer styles.

Here is my original photo:



And here are my layers. First, I added the Bokeh dreamy photo overlay above my original photo, selected it and created a layer mask on another dreamy overlay (Layer 3) as well as my original photo. Then I selected Multiply as my layer style on that layer.



On Layer 1 (my Bokeh overlay), I chose Overlay at 100% for my layer style, above my original photo of the cornfield.



This was the result. I could have played with the opacity on the dreamy photo layer to make the script writing a bit more subdued. I could have also used a watercolor mask on the resulting photo!



EXAMPLE 3 - COMBINED OVERLAYS WITH LAYER EFFECTS

Here is another example of how to combine the overlays...

Here is my original photo:



And here are my layers. Again, I first brought in two dreamy photo overlays and grouped them. Then I selected the first one and created a mask on my original photo and another mask on the second dreamy photo overlay. On my first layer (Layer 1) I made the Layer style Overlay at 100%.



On my second dreamy photo overlay (Layer 4), I chose Darken at 100% for my layer style, above my original photo of the old bike.



And this was the result....



As you can see, the possibilities for combining overlays, masks and layer styles are truly endless. Feel free to play around until you get a result that you just love! Post your photo (and if you are comfortable, your process) in the gallery. Come back here to link us up!

If you have any questions or get stuck, shoot me an email! I'll be around all day!

Can't wait to see what your amazingly creative minds will come up with on today's challenge.

HUGS!
Nan

****WHAT IS LAYER MASK AND WHY WOULD I WANT TO USE ONE!?! *****

Hey there! I had an email asking about Layer Masks, so I thought I would just clarify what they are for those that may not be familiar with them.

On the Layers palette do you see that little icon that looks like a square with a circle in it? When you click on that it adds a Layer Mask to your current layer. The reason we add these is then we can decide what part of the image we want shown. I like to do this so my photos have rough edges.

Anything that is BLACK IS HIDDEN AND anything WHITE IS SHOWN. So on my image below, I opened up the photo, added a Layer Mask (by clicking the Layer Mask icon). Then I filled the layer mask with black and using one of my watercolor masks, as a brush, I "Painted" onto the layer mask with white paint. This revealed just the part of the image that I wanted, inside the watercolor brush.





You can also keep your Layer Mask all white and paint with black to hide (or erase) parts of the image. (Note: this is instead of loading the selection prior to making a new layer mask).

xo
N

Love this concept! Thanks for this challenge Nancy. Now off to the creativity zone...

Excited!! I have never played with my photos that way...1st time for everything.

Here's mine: www.jessicasprague.com/cpg/albums/userpi...Empress-Xana-web.jpg

Love your photo effects Empress!!

This was a really interesting challenge. It stretched my skills. I did add layer masks to each of the photo layers, but couldn't tell what effect that added.

Here's my layout: www.jessicasprague.com/cpg/displayimage.php?pos=-124852

Oops, I just read your added on section about layer masks and since I didn't do anything TO my photo within the layer mask, I didn't change my photos. I get it now. Thanks Nancie!

I had the best time with this! Nancie, thank you so much!!!

SusanD

Here

I'm out of town, so I can join in for the last few challenges, but it's great to look at everyone's submissions!

Oh dear .... I played, and played, and played with the masks & overlays ... how fun! It's the closest I'll ever come to artsy journaling style. But don't anyone ask how I actually ended up with this:


www.jessicasprague.com/cpg/displayimage....;cat=-2251&pos=0

Thank you. I just posted mine using all your overlays.

Here's mine. I had so much fun.It is really really really fun to use those brushes you gave us too .It seems like you just want to add more and more brushes , textures etc. because it goes so fast you just want Day Six Challengeto keep playing.
I did two layouts using all the wonderful gifts we have received. Here is the second one for day six.
2nd Lo Day 6

Very cool, Nancie! Thank you!

Here is mine!

www.jessicasprague.com/cpg/displayimage.php?pos=-124864

Thanks so much for the masks and overlays! I did the entire challenge on my phone with the Photoshop Touch app.

www.jessicasprague.com/cpg/displayimage.php?pos=-124868

Wow! I am really loving everyone's photos today!! SO CREATIVE!!!

Thank you for the masks and overlays collection. Out of all my digi supplies, these are what I have the least of because I haven't really figured out how to use them. The mini-tutorials posted here are also appreciated. Looking forward to this challenge and seeing what I can come up with!

Thanks Nancie! This was an such a fun challenge! Thanks for the freebies - they are wonderful. Here's my take on the challengs:

www.jessicasprague.com/cpg/displayimage.php?pos=-124872

Now I have to go see how many Dreamy Photo Overlays I "need" to purchase. I really like the bokeh overlay.

Hi Nancie (or anyone that can answer this) - I was just re-reading your instructions (as I think I am addicted to this technique now) - why did you make a group of the "dreamy overlays" in the layers palette in example 3 instead of adding them separately their own layer - does this have a different effect?

Thanks so much,

Cathy

Can't wait to play. I don't see any of Nancie's examples. I hope mine turn out like hers.

www.jessicasprague.com/cpg/displayimage.php?pos=-124877

Thanks again...this was fun!!

Great challenge-
I started out with a random picture from a recent trip to Chicago and FELL IN LOVE with the photo! Thank you for letting me see this photo with different eyes.

www.jessicasprague.com/cpg/displayimage.php?pos=-124878

Thanks Nancie! Love the overlays and masks! Here's mine, tonight's sunset, smoke from forest fires made a gorgeous sunset.

www.jessicasprague.com/cpg/displayimage.php?pos=-124880

I love playing with these. Thank you. I decided to do a dreamy look with my cat who sleep all the time. For a cat picture, I think it turned out pretty good. I hope to try this out on one of my kid's pictures. I just could not find the right one for this challenge.

www.jessicasprague.com/cpg/displayimage.php?pos=-124879

Thanks, Nancie.

Mine is now up at

www.jessicasprague.com/cpg/displayimage.php?pos=-124885

Earl