Video Includes:

+ How to use clipping masks & layers in Photoshop

How to Use Clipping Masks in Photoshop

Clipping masks/layers are a super easy way to create custom photo layouts and grids. They’re featured in nearly all of our templates for Photoshop because they let you paste in photos and have them only show up in a particular area and/or shape.

1. You will need to have your Layers palette viewable, so if you don’t see it, go to Window >> Layers and make sure it’s checked.

2. Locate the clipping layer that you want to edit and click on the layer in the layers palette. If there is already a photo clipped to it, you can click on that layer and delete the image (command + D) first.

3. Open the new image you want to use in Photoshop and then Select >> All, then Edit >> Copy

4. Switch back to the .PSD you want to clip the photo into. Making sure the clipping layer is selected, go to Edit >> Paste to paste your image as a new layer on top of the selected clipping layer.

5. In the layers palette, right click with your mouse (or control + click on a Mac) to select “Create Clipping Mask”.

6. Reposition as necessary using the move tool, and/or go to Edit >> Free Transform to resize the image to better fit the frame (keep your finger held down on the “shift” key while you transform your image to make sure it doesn’t get stretched out of shape)