Step 5: Select The Photo On "Layer 1"

We're going to cut a hole in our wood pattern so we can see our photo once again, and to do that, we'll use a layer mask. Hold down your Ctrl (Win) / Command (Mac) key and click directly on the preview thumbnail for "Layer 1" in the Layers palette:

This loads a selection around the photo in the document window. We still can't see the photo itself, but we can see the selection box where the photo should be:

Step 6: Invert The Selection

We've selected the area where the photo should appear, but what we really need selected is the area around the photo (the frame), so we need to invert our selection. To do that, go up to the Select menu at the top of the screen and choose Inverse, or use the quick keyboard shortcut Shift+Ctrl+I (Win) / Shift+Command+I (Mac). Either way inverts the selection, and if you look closely in the document window, you'll still see the same selection box around the photo as before but now you'll also see a selection box around the edges of the document window, letting us know that we now have the frame area around the photo selected:

Step 7: Add A Layer Mask

Now that we have the frame area selected, click on the Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the Layers palette:

This adds a layer mask to "Layer 2", and now the only part of the layer that remains visible in the document window is the area we had selected, which is the frame area around the photo. The part that was not selected - the area where the photo should appear - is now hidden from view, allowing us to see our photo once again:

If we look in our Layers palette, we can see that a layer mask thumbnail has been added to the right of the layer's preview thumbnail:

For more information on layer masks, check out our Understanding Layer Masks tutorial in the Photoshop Basics section of the website.

We're going to give our picture frame some depth and change its color using some Layer Styles next.