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Here is what the PSP Help file says about masks: "Mask layers show or hide portions of underlying layers. A mask is basically an adjustment layer that modifies opacity." You can see that there's nothing complicated or mysterious about the above definition, but for some reason, I had a mental block when it came to putting it into practice. Conceptually, I understood what masks were, but I just couldn't get the hang of actually using them. While I could pick up other image editing skills without too much trouble, trying to use masks remained confusing to me and I'd always give up trying. Finally, I "got it," and decided to write up this exercise. I call it an exercise rather than a tutorial because the purpose is not to explain everything there is about masks, but just to get you started working with them -- hopefully, without frustration. There are a lot of good mask tutorials out there, and I encourage you to check them out, especially for some good ideas about different ways to use them. One of my favorite uses for masks is to separate the main subject(s) of an image from the background. Yes, there are other ways to do this that might seem easier right now, but once you get the hang of masks, you'll want to use them more and more in your work. For this exercise, we are going to go from "Before" to "After" in the photo of my handsome hubby, Glenn, having some fun with dry ice in the kitchen sink. Since my messy kitchen is a distraction from the main subject, we'll de-emphasize it by making it sepia. Much easier than actually cleaning it up ;-) 
Right click and save the "Before" .jpg below to work along with the exercise, or download it in PSP8/PSP9 format. 
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