Photoshop Effects: Digital Pixel Effect

Step 8: Fill The Layer Mask With White

Let's look at another variation on our "digital pixel" effect. First, we need to remove the gradient we added to the layer mask a moment ago. We could simply press Ctrl+Z (Win) / Command+Z (Mac) to undo it, but let's re-fill the layer mask with white instead. To do that, with the layer mask thumbnail selected in the Layers palette and white as our current Background color, use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Backspace (Win) / Command+Delete (Mac) to fill the layer mask with the Background color (white). The layer mask thumbnail will once again appear solid white, and the image will now appear completely pixelated once again:

Step 9: Select The Brush Tool

Select the Brush Tool from the Tools palette, or press B for the keyboard shortcut:

Step 10: Paint With Black To Reveal Parts Of The Image

Using a soft-edged brush and with black still as our Foreground color, I'm going to reveal the main part of his face by simply painting over it with my Brush Tool. Since I'm painting on the layer mask and not on the image itself, anywhere I paint with black will hide the pixelated layer and reveal the Background layer beneath it. I can resize my brush on the fly using the left and right bracket keys on my keyboard, and I can set my brush to a soft edge by holding down the Shift key and pressing the left bracket key a few times:

Here's my image after revealing the main areas of his face by painting over them with black, giving the impression that he is somehow looking through the pixels:

Step 11: Lower The Opacity Of The Pixelated Layer

I'm going to let the original image partially show through the pixelated image, and I can do that simply by going up to the Opacity option in the top right corner of the Layers palette and lowering the opacity value. I'm going to lower it to around 75%:

Here's my image after lowering the opacity of the pixelated layer, creating our second variation on the effect: