Photo inside shape in Photoshop

Published on December 12, 2022

Photo inside shape

In this blog I’ll show you how to quickly place a photo inside of a shape in Adobe Photoshop.

If you’d rather watch the video with instructions, click here or scroll down to the end of this page.

Step 1: Create shape

Create a new file or open the file you want to add the shape to. Then select one of the shape tools. I use the polygon tool.

Select ‘shape‘. If you’re using the polygon tool, you can choose the number of sides your shape has.

Then create your shape. If you want to create a symmetrical shape, press and hold SHIFT while creating the shape.

When you’ve created the shape, select a random color for the fill (as long as it’s different from the background color, so you can see it). Select ‘no color’ for the stroke.

To move the shape, select the move tool. You can now pick the correct position for the shape. To adjust the size of the shape, press CTRL+T to activate free transform.

Step 2: Photo inside shape (clipping mask)

Open the photo you want to place inside of the shape. Select the move tool and drag this photo towards the file with the shape. Place the photo on top of the shape.

You now have a new layer with this photo (layer 1). This layer should be directly above the shape layer.

Select the layer with the photo. Then navigate to ‘Layer > Create clipping mask‘ or press ALT+CTRL+G to create a clipping mask.

This layer is now clipped to the one below it (the shape), which means that the photo is now inside of the shape.

To adjust the photo inside of the shape, select the layer with the photo and press CTRL+T. You can now resize and move the photo inside of the shape.

If you want to move or resize the entire shape, select the shape layer and the layer with the photo. Then press CTRL+T. You can now adjust the shape.

And that’s how you place a photo inside a shape in Adobe Photoshop!