What is Alpha Channel Masking?

To clip delicate structures such as hair, fur, fibers or fringes, a soft transition between the background to the subject must be created. With such fine details, one resorts to the method of alpha channel masking to preserve the natural state of these objects during the clipping. When masking photos or products only selected image content is displayed, the rest of the image is invisible. Layer masks can be adjusted later while the original image remains behind the mask. In this way – contrary to clipping – no image information is permanently removed.