need to drop a pic within an outline

A clipping mask is one way to do it. Your actual range of options is:

Clipping mask

Layer mask (pixels)

Layer mask (vector path)

If you want to use clipping masks, then each state needs to be a separate black silhouette. The steps would be:

1. Position the image layer over the black silhouette layer of the state you want. 

2. With the image layer selected, choose Layer > Create Clipping Mask. However, people who do this a lot don’t choose the menu command, instead they use shortcuts: They press the keyboard shortcut shown next to the command, or in the Layers panel they Option-click between the two layers. 

However, the image you attached does not show a separate black silhouette for each state. Instead, it shows a map of all states that’s gray with darker gray state outlines. You cannot use this image to make clipping masks unless you first convert each state to a black silhouette, and you probably don’t want to go to all that trouble. So if the image you posted is the image you have to use, you might need to use a different method.

mglush already described one other effective and popular method: Layer masks. What I’ll suggest are other ways to get there with layer masks using the image you posted.

One way is to convert each state into a selection, and because there are 50 of them the faster the better. The Object Selection tool might be the fastest way, with these steps as shown in the demo below: 

1. Bring in an image. I dragged mine out of Adobe Bridge and dropped it in Photoshop, but you can also start dragging an image from a folder window in the macOS Finder desktop. 

2. Position the image over the state, and then hide that layer. 

3. With the Object Selection tool set to Lasso mode, drag a loose outline around the state. It should be smart enough to find the actual state outline and select along that. (In reality, the selection might not always be perfect, so you might have to touch up the state outline masks later.) 

4. In the Layers panel, make the image layer visible again, and make sure it’s selected. 

5. In the Layers panel, click the button that creates a layer mask. The selection is converted to a layer mask for the image layer. 

6. Switch to the Move tool. 

7. Click the link icon between the image and its layer mask. This unlinks the layer from its mask. 

8. In the Layers panel, make sure the layer is selected, not its mask. 

9. With the layer unlinked from its mask, now you can use the Move tool or Edit > Free Transform to reposition and rotate the image layer as needed within the state mask. 

The U.S. map image you uploaded is relatively low resolution. If you need to print this large, hopefully the actual original image has a higher resolution. If this needed to be done so that the state outlines were super sharp for a large, high resolution print, this is how I would do it:

1. Find a U.S. states map that is available as 50 separate vector outlines. 

2. Convert each outline into a Photoshop frame layer. 

3. Drop each image directly into each frame layer, recompose as needed within each frame.

Of course, the nice thing about using a pre-made vector map of individual states is that you don’t have to try to create good state outlines; they’re already ready to use that way. And as vector paths, they’d be resolution-independent.

That is a good method now because Photoshop recently made important improvements to the vector frame feature, making it much easier to simply drop images into vector frames and recompose as needed.  

With the frame improvements, getting this type of project done in Photoshop is almost as easy as it is in Adobe InDesign, which is where I would actually prefer to do this specific kind of thing. That’s because InDesign has even better frame tools, and its Place command allows loading the images of all 50 states at once for batch import, so that all I would have to do is hover the Place pointer over each state’s vector outline and click, click, click to insert the next queued image into each state outline in turn. Photoshop is amazing, but this is one project where Photoshop would just slow me down compared to doing it in InDesign.

Hi!

There are several ways to do this. To be able to have control over each flag and each state, I would suggest putting each flag on it's own layer and create a layer mask in the shape of the state.To start, dissect the US States image and create the shape of each state either by creating a selection or a shape. If you create a selection, save it under the Selection menu (Save Selection) and name it by state name so you can find it easily. Creating a selection will save the shape and the location and allow you to apply it eaily as a Layer Mask.

Once you have all the states defined, add your flags--each to its own layer, and name the layer according to the state name. Then with a state flag layer selected, go to the Selection menu and choose Load Selection and choose the appropriate state selection, and click ok.

With the State flag layer selected, and you see the active selection, click the Layer mask icon at the bottom of the Layers Panel and it will automatically mask out everything but the state shape. Now, to move the flag around inside the shape, UNCLICK the link between the Layer image and the Layer mask, and then you can move either one freely around. Make sure you click on the layer image (the brackets at the corners of the image are your indication of which is selected), and move the flag, resize, etc. until you are satisfied. Then I would suggest relinking the Layer and Layer mask back together.

Try one and let us know if you have any quesitons! 

Michelle