Masking in elements 5

[ChristianWeeks]

I have photoshop elements 5 and for the love of me I cannot figure out how the heck to mask!!!!

What I am doing is using a grid to do a pencil version of the national geographic picture of sharbat gula. I want to mask the eyes so that everything is turned back and white except for them. How do I do this?

[aea]

Elements does not have layer masks.

However you can simulate the effect this way:

http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/pselements/qt/layermasks.htm
http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/university/tutorials/PSE_MaskBlendEP.shtml

[Skrunchey]

There is an easier way to do that than a layer mask.

Duplicate the background layer (ctrl+J)
turn that layer B&W (many ways to do that)
then use a soft edge eraser brush and
erase the eyes out of the B&W
so the color version shows through!

Cheers!