How to Make a Basic .PSD Clipping Mask

Clipping masks are so perfect in photoshop. I use them all the time - for everything. The templates we make here pretty much all use clipping masks. It's such a simple but brilliant part of photoshop.

So in this tutorial I'm going to briefly explain how to make a clipping mask. Last week I went over using pre-made clipping masks in templates but if your design or a design you have purchased comes without it's an easy trick to learn and it saves so much time and energy.

How to Use Clipping Masks (on a premade template)

A clipping mask is a layer that defines what's visible of the layer above it.

For a photographer or a blogger or anyone who needs photoshop templates in their day to day life, clipping masks will probably come up. Many of the digital templates I sell on my etsy store makes use of clipping masks, because they make life so easy - no need to crop every photo or line everything up every single time.

Good storyboards and photo templates from any one who makes them to sell or for personal use are almost always made with clipping masks.