Select a foreground or background color.
Last updated on
Dec 2, 2025
Learn how to add a solid color fill to any selection or layer in Adobe Photoshop to enhance your designs and speed up your editing process.
In Photoshop, you can quickly apply solid color fills to backgrounds, shapes, or specific areas within a selection or layer. Use this method to set base tones, change backgrounds, block out composition zones, or build masks and effects efficiently.
Select the area you want to fill using any selection tool. To fill an entire layer, select it in the Layers panel.
Select Edit > Fill. The Fill dialog box opens.
Under Contents, you can select:
- Foreground Color
- Background Color
- Black, 50% Gray, or White
- Color
- Pattern
Tip
For CMYK images, select Foreground Color with the foreground color set to an appropriate black to avoid exceeding printer ink limits.
Under Blending, select the Mode and Opacity for the paint.
Select Preserve Transparency to fill only the non-transparent areas of a layer.
Select OK to apply the fill.
Keyboard shortcuts
- Fill non-transparent areas with the foreground color: Press Alt + Backspace (Windows) or Option + Delete (macOS).
- Fill with the background color: Press Ctrl + Backspace (Windows) or Command + Delete (macOS).
