A couple of masking techniques in Photoshop

Design2 min readView on GitHub

Clipping mask

A clipping mask is probably my most commonly used mask. It’s great for sizing images accurately, to a shape or making sure other layers are contained within a base layer.

You hold alt and hover between two layers and click to make a clipping mask. Or the keyboard shortcut cmd/ctrl alt g.

Non destructive dodge & burn

Dodge and burn are more useful for photo editing, however as websites feature photos more often than not. This should have its uses for you. Being able to darken/lighten parts of a picture can be handy for overlaying text.

Add a layer that’s #808080 (50% grey). Set the blending mode to overlay and do your dodging and burning over it.

A short post this week but I find these techniques very handy while I'm designing.


I’m a tea drinker, but it’s equally appreciated if you found the article useful.

Get the articles

It’s my aim to help you be a better designer. Join my monthlyish email list and I’ll send new tutorials to help you design & code beautiful websites. You can unsubscribe anytime.