How to Use Any B&W Image as a Mask

This tutorial will show you how to use any black and white image as a layer mask on a paper in Paint Shop Pro.

Supplies:

B&W Butterfly
Unryu Paper Pack

1.  Open up your black and white image.  For this tutorial, I have provided a black and white flower and butterfly image.

2.  Open up your paper.  I am using one of the mulberry rice papers from my Unryu Paper Pack.

3.  If you image is a JPEG, promote the background to a layer (Layers > Promote Background Layer).

4.  There are two different ways to use the black and white image as a mask.  Go to Layers > New Mask Layer > From Image.

5.  In the first method, create a mask from the source luminance.  This will cause all the black parts of the image to be masked or transparent.  Do this by selecting the b&w image from the drop down list for the Source window.  Then, select Source luminance.

Here is the result.

Now you can put another paper under this one or place it over a photograph.

6.  In the second method, the mask data is inverted so that the butterfly remains, but the rest of the image is masked.  Do the same as in step 5, but make sure Invert Mask Data is checked.

Here is the result.

A paper can be placed below the mask group to make the butterfly stand out.