Layer masks

[Simon Bond Photographer]

Sorry this is a really simple question but spent the whole day trying to get layer masks to work on Photoshop and have realiased that on all the tutorials they duplicate a background using Control J (Windows) and end up with an icon with 4 corner lines as per first image. Whenever I do it I get a full rectangle as per second image. Using laetst version of PS 25.6. So whatever I am creating maybe it is not an actual layer mask.

Steve

[Conrad_C]

There are some things being confused there. Part of the problem is when people teach keyboard shortcuts without saying what they are shortcuts for. The Control-J shortcut (Command-J on the Mac) is the keyboard shortcut for the menu command Layer > New > Layer via Copy. So it is the correct shortcut to use if you want to copy (duplicate) a layer in the same document.

But that is not what you want. You want to add a layer mask (pixel mask) to the selected layer.  The menu command that does that is Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal All (or one of the other commands on the Layer Mask submenu). But most people don’t like digging into that deep submenu, so the more common method is to click the Add Layer Mask button in the Layers panel (see image below).

The four corner lines tell you which part of that layer is active, so it changes when you click one part or the other. If the four corner lines are around the mask, the mask is active (if you paint, it paints in the mask). If the four corner lines are around the layer, the layer is active (if you paint, it paints in the layer).

[Simon Bond Photographer]

Thank you and your right there is a lot of confusion. Yes I tried the Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal All option and also the Add Layer Mask icon (circle in square) but still creates the rectangular with solid line around perimeter not the one with four corners which denotes a layer mask and can see from your example the Layer 1 is also solid white perimeter so is that a layer not a layer mask.

[Conrad_C]

You know what…you’re right. I was thinking of the solid outline, not the four corners. Sorry about that. Now I’m trying to remember what the four corners were about…

[davescm]

Ctrl+J just duplicates a layer, it does not add a mask (unless the layer being duplicated already has a mask).

You can add a mask to any layer using the icon at the bottom of the layers panel or from menu Layer >Layer Mask > ...

Where a mask is white, the associated layer is visible. Were a mask is black the associated layer becomes transparent and the layer(s) below show through. If a mask is grey the associated layer is semi transparent.

Dave

Edit : Conrad posted while I was typing - sorry for the duplication

[Simon Bond Photographer]

Thank you ands yes tried that but still doesnt create the correct icon with the 4 corners as per my image denoting a proper layer mask.  Very weired.

[Bojan Živković]

The visual appearance of selected layer masks may vary between versions. In my testing, the "four corners" indicator does not appear when a layer mask is selected, although I recall it being present in previous versions. I am not aware of any settings or preferences that alter the visual appearance of selected layer masks, suggesting it may be a design change.