Can you help me with Photoshop?

Question

I know how to do this thing in Photoshop, but I'm trying to explain it to someone and I just don't know what this action is called.

Let's say you have a picture that you wanna shape like the object in the layer beneath it. So, you put your curser between the two layers and press option. It turns the top layer into the shape of the bottom one, like making a mask or something, and you can move it around and transform it.

Thanks for your help.

Answer 1

You are creating a Clipping Mask. I never know the shortcut and always use the menu. To do it using the menu, select the picture layer (not the shape layer) and go to the Layer pull down menu -- Create Clipping Mask. You can do the same thing on an adjustment layer so that it only effects the layer directly below it.

Very cool that you know how to do that. What other tricks do you have up your sleeve?