Now that you know what a clipping mask is, let's look at one of the common uses of a clipping mask to crop and resize a photo without actually cropping it.

I've opened two files from the part for lesson two practice folder, queen-card.psd and cat-0074.jpg. Let's start with the card.

I've already added two papers and a stroke outline which will be the background for our cat image. But rather than just moving the cat photo onto this background and resizing it, I want to plan where the photo should go. A clipping mask is a great way to do that, so let's create one. In the Toolbar in the Draw section, click on the Shape tool. The tool icon will vary depending on which shape tool is currently the active tool. The default is the Custom Shape tool, so I'll click on it.

Now I can open Tool Options and notice there are several other shape options. I'll click on the Rectangle tool because I want a rectangular photo. The color doesn't really matter because I plan to cover the entire clipping mask with the photo. So black is as good a color as any for my Clipping Mask. Choose Unconstrained from the menu and select the Create New Shape Layer icon. Leave the style at None. And don't check either of the checkboxes, then close Tool Options.

On your document, click and drag a rectangle any size you want. When you let go of the mouse Photoshop Elements will create a new layer in the Layers panel and give it a default name. This will be your Clipping Mask.

Open the Photo Bin and click and drag the cat photo onto your document, making sure you let go of the mouse over the clipping mask so the photo will land above the clipping mask in the Layers panel. Then close the Photo Bin. to clip the photo to the mask, in the Menu Bar, choose Layer, Create Clipping Mask. Get the Move tool and click and drag the photo to the location where you want it. If you need to resize the photo, use the Transform tool. Press Ctrl T on Windows or Command T on a Mac and click and drag from a corner handle to resize while maintaining the original proportions. If you add the Alt key in Windows or the Option key on a Mac, all four corners will resize at the same time. And then you can click inside the outline to move the photo around. When you're satisfied with the size and position click on the green checkmark.

There are actually three ways to resize when using clipping masks. You've already seen one and that is to resize only the photo layer. Now let's try resizing just the clipping mask. In the Layers panel leave the two layers clipped together but click on the clipping mask layer to make it the active layer. Press Ctrl T on Windows or Command T on a Mac to access the Transform tool and make any changes you want to the size. This particular clipping mask doesn't need to stay proportional, so I'll move the sides in and the top up a bit and commit the transform.

The third way is to resize both the photo and the clipping mask at the same time. Press the Shift key and click on the photo layer in the Layers panel to select it along with the mask layer. Get the Transform tool and resize using the corner handles. We don't want to use a side handles because now that the photo is also being resized, we definitely need to keep the proportions the same. So I'm going to click and drag from one side and then move this up a little bit. Maybe make it a little bit smaller and move it over here and then click on the checkmark to commit the transform.

So a clipping mask allows you to start with a particular design in mind, but allows you to resize either the photo or the clipping mask or both. In fact, when I create a digital project, I almost always start with clipping masks and then clip my photos to the masks. I find it much easier to focus on the design without the photos clouding my judgment.

Here's how I finished my project. You'll find the leaf element in the same folder with the photo and background. I added two layers of type for the title using a different font for each type layer. The names of the fonts are in the manual but don't feel like you have to use what I use. There are lots of great fonts available online and many of them are free.

Notice that the leaf is the only item on my project that has a drop shadow. None of the papers or photo have a drop shadow and that's intentional for this project. If you want to add a layer style to a photo clipped to a mask, there's a little trick to it, which I'll show you in the next lesson. So here again is my finished project using a clipping mask. I encourage you to use your own photo and give it a try.