PHOTOSHOP CLIPPING MASKS

Here are two examples of clipping masks. You see them used on billboards and in magazines...they're effective, simple, and a really fun way to use your photos in your layouts...be it greeting card, blog banner, promo piece, calendar, scrapbook page, mixed media, whatever.

Basically, in Photoshop, you want a photo on one layer and text or a shape on the layer beneath it in the Layers palette. Then hold down the Alt/Option key, hover over the line separating the two layers, and when you see the double circle icon, click and, voilá!

For fonts, it's best to choose a "fat" one (I love Bauhaus Heavy) or the image won't show, and make sure the piece itself is big enough to "read" the effect...otherwise it's a wasted effort. In other words, a business card may be too small, but a greeting card is just right...and anything bigger is even better. Use the Move tool and the Transform feature to tweak things to your liking.