- Photoshop User Guide
- Introduction to Photoshop
- Photoshop and other Adobe products and services
- Photoshop on the iPad (not available in mainland China)
- Photoshop on the iPad | Common questions
- Get to know the workspace
- System requirements | Photoshop on the iPad
- Create, open, and export documents
- Add photos
- Work with layers
- Draw and paint with brushes
- Make selections and add masks
- Retouch your composites
- Work with adjustment layers
- Adjust the tonality of your composite with Curves
- Apply transform operations
- Crop and rotate your composites
- Rotate, pan, zoom, and reset the canvas
- Work with Type layers
- Work with Photoshop and Lightroom
- Get missing fonts in Photoshop on the iPad
- Japanese Text in Photoshop on the iPad
- Manage app settings
- Touch shortcuts and gestures
- Keyboard shortcuts
- Edit your image size
- Livestream as you create in Photoshop on the iPad
- Correct imperfections with the Healing Brush
- Create brushes in Capture and use them in Photoshop on the iPad
- Work with Camera Raw files
- Create and work with Smart Objects
- Adjust exposure in your images with Dodge and Burn
- Auto adjustment commands in Photoshop on the iPad
- Smudge areas in your images with Photoshop on the iPad
- Saturate or desaturate your images using Sponge tool
- Content aware fill for iPad
- Photoshop on the web (not available in mainland China)
- Common questions
- System requirements
- Keyboard shortcuts
- Supported file types
- Introduction to the workspace
- Open and work with cloud documents
- Generative AI features
- Basic concepts of editing
- Quick Actions
- Work with layers
- Retouch images and remove imperfections
- Make quick selections
- Image improvements with Adjustment Layers
- Add a fill layer
- Move, transform, and crop images
- Draw and paint
- Draw and edit Shapes
- Work with Type layers
- Work with anyone on the web
- Manage app settings
- Generate Image
- Generate Background
- Reference Image
- Photoshop (beta) (not available in mainland China)
- Generative AI (not available in mainland China)
- Common questions on generative AI in Photoshop
- Generative Fill in Photoshop on the desktop
- Generate Image with descriptive text prompts
- Generative Expand in Photoshop on the desktop
- Generative Fill in Photoshop on the iPad
- Generative Expand in Photoshop on the iPad
- Generative AI features in Photoshop on the web
- Content authenticity (not available in mainland China)
- Cloud documents (not available in mainland China)
- Photoshop cloud documents | Common questions
- Photoshop cloud documents | Workflow questions
- Manage and work with cloud documents in Photoshop
- Upgrade cloud storage for Photoshop
- Unable to create or save a cloud document
- Solve Photoshop cloud document errors
- Collect cloud document sync logs
- Invite others to edit your cloud documents
- Share files and comment in-app
- Workspace
- Workspace basics
- Preferences
- Learn faster with the Photoshop Discover Panel
- Create documents
- Place files
- Default keyboard shortcuts
- Customize keyboard shortcuts
- Tool galleries
- Performance preferences
- Use tools
- Presets
- Grid and guides
- Touch gestures
- Use the Touch Bar with Photoshop
- Touch capabilities and customizable workspaces
- Technology previews
- Metadata and notes
- Touch capabilities and customizable workspaces
- Place Photoshop images in other applications
- Rulers
- Show or hide non-printing Extras
- Specify columns for an image
- Undo and history
- Panels and menus
- Position elements with snapping
- Position with the Ruler tool
- Web, screen, and app design
- Image and color basics
- How to resize images
- Work with raster and vector images
- Image size and resolution
- Acquire images from cameras and scanners
- Create, open, and import images
- View images
- Invalid JPEG Marker error | Opening images
- Viewing multiple images
- Customize color pickers and swatches
- High dynamic range images
- Match colors in your image
- Convert between color modes
- Color modes
- Erase parts of an image
- Blending modes
- Choose colors
- Customize indexed color tables
- Image information
- Distort filters are unavailable
- About color
- Color and monochrome adjustments using channels
- Choose colors in the Color and Swatches panels
- Sample
- Color mode or Image mode
- Color cast
- Add a conditional mode change to an action
- Add swatches from HTML CSS and SVG
- Bit depth and preferences
- Layers
- Layer basics
- Nondestructive editing
- Create and manage layers and groups
- Select, group, and link layers
- Place images into frames
- Layer opacity and blending
- Mask layers
- Apply Smart Filters
- Layer comps
- Move, stack, and lock layers
- Mask layers with vector masks
- Manage layers and groups
- Layer effects and styles
- Edit layer masks
- Extract assets
- Reveal layers with clipping masks
- Generate image assets from layers
- Work with Smart Objects
- Blending modes
- Combine multiple images into a group portrait
- Combine images with Auto-Blend Layers
- Align and distribute layers
- Copy CSS from layers
- Load selections from a layer or layer mask's boundaries
- Knockout to reveal content from other layers
- Selections
- Get started with selections
- Make selections in your composite
- Select and Mask workspace
- Select with the marquee tools
- Select with the lasso tools
- Adjust pixel selections
- Move, copy, and delete selected pixels
- Create a temporary quick mask
- Select a color range in an image
- Convert between paths and selection borders
- Channel basics
- Save selections and alpha channel masks
- Select the image areas in focus
- Duplicate, split, and merge channels
- Channel calculations
- Get started with selections
- Image adjustments
- Replace object colors
- Perspective warp
- Reduce camera shake blurring
- Healing brush examples
- Export color lookup tables
- Adjust image sharpness and blur
- Understand color adjustments
- Apply a Brightness/Contrast adjustment
- Adjust shadow and highlight detail
- Levels adjustment
- Adjust hue and saturation
- Adjust vibrance
- Adjust color saturation in image areas
- Make quick tonal adjustments
- Apply special color effects to images
- Enhance your image with color balance adjustments
- High dynamic range images
- View histograms and pixel values
- Match colors in your image
- Crop and straighten photos
- Convert a color image to black and white
- Adjustment and fill layers
- Curves adjustment
- Blending modes
- Target images for press
- Adjust color and tone with Levels and Curves eyedroppers
- Adjust HDR exposure and toning
- Dodge or burn image areas
- Make selective color adjustments
- Adobe Camera Raw
- Camera Raw system requirements
- What's new in Camera Raw
- Introduction to Camera Raw
- Create panoramas
- Supported lenses
- Vignette, grain, and dehaze effects in Camera Raw
- Default keyboard shortcuts
- Automatic perspective correction in Camera Raw
- Radial Filter in Camera Raw
- Manage Camera Raw settings
- Open, process, and save images in Camera Raw
- Repair images with the Enhanced Spot Removal tool in Camera Raw
- Rotate, crop, and adjust images
- Adjust color rendering in Camera Raw
- Process versions in Camera Raw
- Make local adjustments in Camera Raw
- Image repair and restoration
- Image enhancement and transformation
- Drawing and painting
- Paint symmetrical patterns
- Draw rectangles and modify stroke options
- About drawing
- Draw and edit shapes
- Painting tools
- Create and modify brushes
- Blending modes
- Add color to paths
- Edit paths
- Paint with the Mixer Brush
- Brush presets
- Gradients
- Gradient interpolation
- Fill and stroke selections, layers, and paths
- Draw with the Pen tools
- Create patterns
- Generate a pattern using the Pattern Maker
- Manage paths
- Manage pattern libraries and presets
- Draw or paint with a graphics tablet
- Create textured brushes
- Add dynamic elements to brushes
- Gradient
- Paint stylized strokes with the Art History Brush
- Paint with a pattern
- Sync presets on multiple devices
- Migrate presets, actions, and settings
- Text
- Filters and effects
- Saving and exporting
- Color Management
- Web, screen, and app design
- Video and animation
- Printing
- Automation
- Troubleshooting
About masks and alpha channels
When you select part of an image, the area that is not selected is masked, or protected from editing. So, when you create a mask, you isolate and protect areas of an image as you apply color changes, filters, or other effects to the rest of the image. You can also use masks for complex image editing such as gradually applying color or filter effects to an image.
A. Opaque mask used to protect the background and edit the butterfly B. Opaque mask used to protect the butterfly and color the background C. Semitransparent mask used to color the background and part of the butterfly
Masks are stored in alpha channels. Masks and channels are grayscale images, so you can edit them like any other image with painting tools, editing tools, and filters. Areas painted black on a mask are protected, and areas painted white are editable.
Use Quick Mask mode to convert a selection to a temporary mask for easier editing. The Quick Mask appears as a colored overlay with adjustable opacity. You can edit the Quick Mask using any painting tool or modify it with a filter. Once you exit Quick Mask mode, the mask is converted back to a selection on the image.
To save a selection more permanently, you can store it as an alpha channel. The alpha channel stores the selection as an editable grayscale mask in the Channels panel. Once you store the selection as an alpha channel, you can reload it at any time or even load it into another image.
You can mask or hide parts of a layer using a layer mask.
Create and edit alpha channel masks
You can create a new alpha channel and then use painting tools, editing tools, and filters to create a mask from the alpha channel. You can also save an existing selection in a Photoshop image as an alpha channel that appears in the Channels panel. See Save and load selections.
Create an alpha channel mask using current options
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Click the New Channel button at the bottom of the Channels panel.
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Paint on the new channel to mask out image areas.Note:
Select areas of the image before you create the channel for the mask. Then paint on the channel to refine the mask.
Create an alpha channel mask and set options
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Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Mac OS) the New Channel button at the bottom of the Channels panel, or choose New Channel from the Channels panel menu.
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Specify options in the New Channel dialog box.
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Paint on the new channel to mask out image areas.
Edit channel options
To change options for an existing channel, double-click the channel thumbnail in the Channels panel or select Channel Options from the Channels panel menu.
Options available in the New Channel and Channel Options dialog boxes:
Masked Areas
Sets masked areas to black (opaque) and selected areas to white (transparent). Painting with black increases the masked area; painting with white increases the selected area. When this option is selected, the Quick Mask button in the toolbox becomes a white circle on a gray background .
Selected Areas
Sets masked areas to white (transparent) and selected areas to black (opaque). Painting with white increases the masked area; painting with black increases the selected area. When this option is selected, the Quick Mask button in the toolbox becomes a gray circle on a white background .
Spot Color
Converts an alpha channel to a spot color channel. Only available for existing channels.
Color
Sets the color and opacity of the mask. Click the color field to change the color. The color and opacity settings affect only the appearance of the mask and have no effect on how underlying areas are protected. Changing these settings may make the mask more easily visible against the colors in the image.
Paint on a channel to mask image areas
When the new channel appears at the bottom of the Channels panel, it is the only channel visible in the image window. Click the eye icon for the composite color channel (RGB, CMYK) to display the image with a color overlay showing the mask.
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Select the brush or an editing tool and do one of the following to add or subtract from the mask created from the alpha channel:
To remove areas in the new channel, paint with white.
To add areas in the new channel, paint with black.
To add or remove areas using opacities less than 100%, set the Opacity in the options bar of the painting or editing tool and then paint with white or black. You can also paint with a color to achieve lower opacities.
Save and load selections
You can save any selection as a mask in a new or existing alpha channel and later reload the selection from the mask.
You can use a selection as a layer mask by loading the selection to make it active, then adding a new layer mask.
Save a selection to a new channel
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Select the area or areas of the image you want to isolate.
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Click the Save Selection button at the bottom of the Channels panel. A new channel appears, named according to the sequence in which it was created.
Save a selection to a new or existing channel
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Use a selection tool to select the area or areas of the image you want to isolate.
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Choose Select > Save Selection.
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Specify the following in the Save Selection dialog box, and click OK:
Document
Chooses a destination image for the selection. By default, the selection is placed in a channel in your active image. You can choose to save the selection to a channel in another open image with the same pixel dimensions or to a new image.
Channel
Chooses a destination channel for the selection. By default, the selection is saved in a new channel. You can choose to save the selection to any existing channel in the selected image or to a layer mask if the image contains layers.
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If you’re saving the selection as a new channel, type a name for the channel in the Name text box.
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If you’re saving the selection to an existing channel, select how to combine the selections:
Replace Channel
Replaces the current selection in the channel.
Add to Channel
Adds the selection to the current channel contents.
Subtract From Channel
Deletes the selection from the channel contents.
Intersect With Channel
Keeps the areas of the new selection that intersect with the channel contents.
You can select the channel from the Channels panel to see the saved selection displayed in grayscale.
Load a saved selection from the Channels panel
You can reuse a previously saved selection by loading it into an image. You can also load the selection into an image after you finish modifying an alpha channel.
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Do one of the following in the Channels panel:
Select the alpha channel, click the Load Selection button at the bottom of the panel, and then click the composite color channel near the top of the panel.
Drag the channel containing the selection you want to load onto the Load Selection button.
Ctrl-click (Windows) or Command-click (Mac OS) the channel containing the selection you want to load.
To add the mask to an existing selection, press Ctrl+Shift (Windows) or Command+Shift (Mac OS), and click the channel.
To subtract the mask from an existing selection, press Ctrl+Alt (Windows) or Command+Option (Mac OS), and click the channel.
To load the intersection of the saved selection and an existing selection, press Ctrl+Alt+Shift (Windows) or Command+Option+Shift (Mac OS), and select the channel.
Note:You can drag a selection from one open Photoshop image into another.
Load a saved selection
If you are loading a saved selection from another image, make sure to open it. Also, make sure your destination image is active.
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Choose Select > Load Selection.
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Specify the Source options in the Load Selection dialog box:
Document
Chooses the source to load.
Channel
Chooses the channel containing the selection you want to load.
Invert
Selects the non-selected areas.
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Select an Operation option to specify how to combine the selections if the image already has a selection:
New Selection
Adds the loaded selection.
Add To Selection
Adds the loaded selection to any existing selections in the image.
Subtract From Selection
Subtracts the loaded selection from existing selections in the image.
Intersect With Selection
Saves a selection from an area intersected by the loaded selection and existing selections in the image.
Note:You can drag a selection from one open Photoshop image into another.