Filling layers with mask

Lets say you want to simply change the fill color of a layer in Photoshop from white to black. The typical process is not very effective:

  1. Load the selection for the layer you want to change (option click on the layer)
  2. Make sure you have the correct color in the foreground
  3. Hit Option-Delete to fill it with the foreground

Not only is this a slow process, but it also does not respect the transparency mask, leaving pixels that used to be 25% transparent to be 50% transparent now.

Fortunately there is a quick and easy method that does respect the transparency of your layer, and it’s also a lot quicker:

Simply select the layer you want to change colors for, make sure you’ve got the new color in the foreground and hit: Option-Shift-Delete. This tip also works for shape layers and text layers as well!

Thanks to Brian Zeitler for teaching me this trick a while back!