Clipping Masks-I'm Lost

[Laura_...@adobeforums.com]

I'm using CS2 Photoshop and Illustrator for class projects. I know almost nothing about the products. I want to edit photos by removing parts of them and I was told to use clipping masks. I'm not getting what I want. Sometimes the area I want masked "disappears" but when I combine it with other elements in my composition the edges of the photo are still there although they are "whited out" (Sorry, I'm explaining this the best I can). I can't seem to get just the editted shape without the part that is masked.

I also don't know what the definitions are for things like "Clipping Masks", "Merge Layers" vs "Group Layers", etc. Most of the time I know what I want to do but I don't know the Adobe term for what it is called. This makes it impossible to look for a tutorial or other help.

I've used MS Publisher for many years but Adobe has me totally baffled.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!!

[curt_...@adobeforums.com]

As part of the class project I suggest you go to Adobe's website and look at tutorials on clipping masks, merge layers and other topics. A clipping mask lets you use the content of a layer to mask the layers above it, so may or may not be what you need to "edit photos by removing parts of them".

If you can narrow down your question I am sure the forum members can help.

[Laura_...@adobeforums.com]

Thanks for your response. Here's more information. I have a flower picture. I just want to see the flower without the background. How can I do that?

[Buko]

I've used MS Publisher for many years but Adobe has me totally baffled.

that's because Photoshop and illustrator are professional application with a steep learning curve. You should go to <http://www.lynda.com> and learn.

[curt_...@adobeforums.com]

With PhotoShop there are 47 ways to do most tasks. Look at the link below and you might get the idea that eliminating the background is not a simple point and click option.

<http://www.adobeforums.com/webx/.59b7adce/12>

[Denn...@adobeforums.com]

Laura,

Russell Brown (a member of the Adobe team) has tutorials available for free on his site for several ways to extract portions of images:

<http://www.russellbrown.com/tips_tech.html>

There are also many good videos available for free on Adobe TV:

<http://tv.adobe.com/#>

Once you make it through those, if you're hungry for more then I would second Buko's recomendation for lynda.com. That site charges but if you have the time to dedicate to it, you can get a ton of training there over the course of a month.

Once you try some of those tutorials, if you have more specific questions come back here and let us know.