Corel PhotoPaint has had the Clip Mask tool since version 9 of the application and frankly I never paid any attention to it until version 11. Why? Well, like most folks, I was pretty clueless about how to use and what to use it for.

In some ways, it is similar to the Power Clip function in Corel Draw, but this tutorial will be about how I've found it to be an invaluable tool when doing colorizing for photo restoration.

I'm using the Trapper image from Retouch Challenge #24 as for the most part there was really not much that needed to be done in terms of touch ups on the image so you'll have a good image to practice with.

The first thing I do is to do a *very* rough mask around what I want to colorize. Do not make the mask too small. It's actually better to mask off more than you need. You'll see why later on.

Now create a new object/layer from the masked items by either doing a Ctrl-UpArrow or from the menu bar Object/Create/Copy Selection. You'll see the new object/layer in the Object Docker.

I always go and rename this object right away. It really does help in the management of your file. To do this, right-click on the object/layer, choose Properties, and then type in the new name for this object.

I know many people choose to use a paintbrush using a Color Merge Mode to recolor, but I prefer to do it a different way. With my object selected, I click on Image/Adjust/Color Hue. Here you can choose to adjust the Shadows, Midtones, Highlight, and Preserve Luminence - either all at once or any combination thereof. You have a slider where you input your "step" level of color when you click on one of the image buttons allowing you to add More Red, More Green, More Blue, More Cyan, More Magenta, or More Yellow. The default setting for this control window will give you a side-by-side comparison of your image so you can see your results as you click away.

I then will often go to Image/Adjust/Selective Color to tweak my color even more. This dialog box will allow you to alter the Color Spectrum of the image. You can choose the Reds, Yellows, Greens, Cyans, Blues, Magentas, and Grays. Depending on the colors in your image/selection, not all of these Spectrums will really do anything.

And by now you're wondering, "um, when's he getting to the Clip Mask?" Well, now. I do all this beforehand because it makes it easier to work with the Clip Mask.

You now see this brownish piece of the picture. The wood looks OK, but this color should not be on his skin, pants, etc. With your object/layer selected, go to Object/Clip Mask/Create/From Object Transparency. You'll now see two thumbnails associated with your object/layer. The item on the left is the actual object. The item on the right is the Clip Mask. You will notice a red outline on whichever item is currently active.

With the Clip Mask selected, choose a paint brush nib that is anti-aliased. It will be up to you to play with the settings to find what works best for you. I just choose any old sized round anti-aliased nib. The size doesn't matter because here's a tip: whenever you have a brush selected, hold down the shift key and then move your mouse up and/or down. Your nib size will automatically grow or shrink! No need to take your hands off the mouse!

Your choice of colors here should be anything in a grayscale range. Black will "erase" an item, White will "unerase" an item. This is why you need to originally mask off a larger area than you will need - using the anti-aliased brush you can get a nice fade off of your newly recolored object... and if you accidentally erase something you shouldn't have, just go back over it with a white brush and you'll bring it all back! It's also a good idea to hide everything else but the object/layer you're working on now and then to make sure you don't have any "straggling" streaks that need to be erased.

Personally, I do not wind up removing the original b/w background layer. I usually wind up adjusting the transparency of my floating object/layer to do that final tweak to the color.

Here are the various objects/layers with their Clip Masks trimmed down:

And here is the final product: