Mask layer by copying and pasting
Another way to create a layer mask filled with grayscale, is to fill it with another image.

In this example I opened a photo of a book. This is equipped with three layers. A color layer, a layer with the photo of the book and a layer of a photograph of a hand with a pencil.

Now, the layer with the hand really does not interest us, it merely serves as decoration.

As far as we are interested, it is the layer which is provided with a blue color (1) and the layer which is provided with the book (2).

The second picture that is open is a drawing of the girl (3).

What I want to achieve is that the girl that appears in the book gets the color of the layer with the color blue.

The first thing you do is the drawing of the girl, and only the girl is selected. This is easy with the “Wand” tool where you select the white of the photo and then reverse the selection.

Next, we copy and paste the girl into a layer mask that is in the picture with the book.

When you do this the normal way, that is to copy the photo selection in the photo of the girl and paste it into the book, it would appear in its own layer (4).

This is not what I wish to do, I want to paste it into the layer mask of the layer with the book, so it gets the blue color of the underlying layer.

For this we need to open the mask.

Click on the layer mask while holding the Alt key on your keyboard pressed.

Then click the shortcut Ctrl + V on your keyboard to paste the girl in the layer mask.

What we have to do is to place the girl in the correct position.

To see where you’re, click the layer mask again while the Alt key on your keyboard pressed.

Select the tool “Move” and drag the selection of the girl to the correct position.

Make sure that you drag the selection, not the picture of the book.

Uncheck everything.
Final result:

Tip: If you later wish to change the color of the girl to red, green or whatever color, the only thing you need to do is to change the color of the bottom layer with the color “Bucket”.

Featured Courses

• Downloading iPad Apps
• Lesson 1: Introduction to Publisher
• Lesson 65: File Formats