Using layer masks in Photoshop – One Four Challenge

For the first week of the One Four Challenge March my goal was to work with layers. For the second week my goal is to learn a bit about using layer masks in Photoshop. So here are the steps I made:

1. I opened my picture and a new file with a transparent layer in Photoshop.
2. I made a background with the gradient tool in the new file.
3. I selected the girl with the quick selection tool copied her and paste her in the new file on a new layer. I named this layer to normal-girl-layer.
4. I copied the girl on a second layer and I made her three times as big as the first one with the “Free Transform” option. I named this layer to big-girl-layer.
5. Then I added a mask to the normal-girl-layer and to the big-girl-layer as well. (One with black foreground colour and the other with white foreground colour.)
6. I selected a special brush and painted with it on one of the layers with masks. If you do like this you can reveal with the brush the parts of the other layer. Depending on with which layer you work, chose black or white colour for the brush to reveal parts. If you would like to work with interesting brushes you can download some from here.

Here is my final picture for this week:

This is the original picture:

Feedback, tips and comments are welcome.