Well, gang, I think it’s safe to say that the Holiday Season is upon us. And if your day went anything like mine, you were on the go all day long. So the last thing you have time for is a long, elaborate Photoshop project, particularly one that involves the sometimes mind-bending rigors of masking.

Which is why today, I offer you something special: a way to muscle your way through a mask—and a complex one at that—without contemplation, Calculations, or even consideration. All it takes is a few blunt tools, lots of brute force, and perseverance.

Here’s the official description from my video publisher, lynda.com:

If you’re trying to mask a challenging subject, Photoshop certainly has a hoard of sharply honed tools that will allow you to create the most nuanced selection imaginable. But sometimes, you just want to throw some brute force at a project so that you can get on with your busy life. In this week’s free-to-all Deke’s Techniques video, Deke McClelland shows you how to quickly mask this greenish-on-green hummingbird with two blunt instruments that you don’t hear Deke recommending often: the Quick Selection tool and the Magic Wand.

Deke starts by showing you how to use both of the tools to the best of their limitations, and incrementally build the mask in phases, so that you don’t lose or accidentally undo your work. Finally, when the blunt instruments have done all they can, Deke shows you how to refine those results with the aptly named Refine Mask command. The result is this rough-hewn but ultimately serviceable mask:

Which in turn allows you to posit the hummingbird into an entirely new environment:

Of course, masking in Photoshop can mean anything from this rough-hewn utilitarian outcome to highly nuanced meticulous sections. And Deke has two new video courses for members of the lynda.com Online Training Library that will take you deep into the science of Masking and Compositing: Photoshop Masking & Compositing: Fundamentals and Photoshop Masking & Compositing: Advanced Blending.

And stay tuned for next week, when Deke will be back with two new Deke’s Techniques.

And just in case you’re wondering what a hummingbird has to do with the holidays, stay tuned. Next week, I’ll show you how to freeze the creature in time and turn it into a credible stained glass ornament—specifically, the one below.

Next week I tip my glass to your flights of fancy.