.

Upon showing a friend the "innards" of some of my Photoshop files, he said that he liked the layer masks as images in their own right. In that spirit, I have included a selection of them here. I've picked those that I found pretty, amusing, or just plain wierd.

Unfamiliar with Photoshop layer masks? A basic explanation of layers can be found here:http://www.sketchpad.net/psdlayer1.htm. A layer mask is a little bit like a stencil and is used to block parts of a layer. The black part of the mask blocks the layer from view. The white part allows the layer to be seen. The gray parts allow more or less of the layer to be viewed, depending on how light or dark the gray.

.