Coming to terms with alpha channels (or masks) is the most sure-fire way to boost the quality of your work in Photoshop. But masking isn't easy-in fact, the elusive alpha channel has been described as the least understood feature in Photoshop's enormous arsenal. Now, you can master masking with Deke McClelland's unique and effective learning system. Through step-by-step text lessons, DVD-video demonstrations, and real-world projects, you'll learn how to select and composite highlights, shadows, clouds, fabric, feathers, glass, flame, lightning, eyes, all varieties of hair, and then some.Deke's expert advice and guidance is like working with a personal coach. With this book, you will: learn at your own speed with 12 self-paced tutorials; try out techniques and best practices with engaging real-world projects; get more than 850 full-color photos, diagrams, and screen shots that illustrate every key step; see exactly how it's done in real time with five hours of all-new video instruction; test your knowledge with multiple-choice quizzes in each chapter And more. In this book, Deke teams up with fellow Photoshop expert Tim Grey, author of O'Reilly's Take Your Best Shot, based on his popular Digital Darkroom Questions email newsletter. "Photoshop CS4 Channels & Masks One-on-One" simulates a classroom environment that provides one-on-one attention as you proceed from lesson to lesson. You'll learn to use Photoshop faster, more creatively, and more efficiently than you thought possible.