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I inherited a template from another person that has (essentially) two layers: an art background and a color filled border on top of the art. The border is a complex shape that I can't easily recreate by myself if it were to be deleted.

Is there a way to teach Photoshop that I'd like the border layer to be respected as if it were a forced "empty" layer e.g. no content, as if the content below the layer had been deleted? This is so that I can easily export an image that has the border content rendered transparent, but can also easily re-apply the border if I ever change my mind.

I've solved my problem in the short term by simply selecting the content inside the border, cropping to that content, and exporting once, but I don't like either having to do this multiple times, or having to save more than one .psd file.

Thanks for your help!

PS. I am rather new to Photoshop (installed it literally yesterday), so I apologize for any obvious errors.

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    Could you please elaborate a bit more? Maybe by adding a simple example. It's not fully clear to me.
    – Vikas
    Jun 23, 2021 at 3:46
  • Can you simply turn off visibility for the border layer? I gotta admit.. I'm having some trouble envisioning the file construction as well.
    – Scott
    Jun 23, 2021 at 4:03
  • If I am understanding your wants correctly- yes, simply turn off visibility for the border layer and export it (with no border) or turn on the border layer visibility and export it that way (with border).
    – Kyle
    Jun 23, 2021 at 4:11
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    I'm not sure I got it, but knockout maybe?
    – Joonas
    Jun 23, 2021 at 7:03
  • Thanks @Joonas -- knockout is precisely what I was looking for. If you'd like to turn the comment into an answer, I can mark it as correct. Otherwise, thank you for your help!
    – Raynor Kuang
    Jun 23, 2021 at 19:39

1 Answer 1

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So the specific scenario you have is a little lost on me, but as I suggested in the comment, knockout can be used to basically punch through a layer or even multiple layers and it's quite commonly used with text or anything that has the potential to change.

Here's another generic example where I've given the text layer 0% fill and a shallow knockout. I also put it and the two layers I want to K.O. in a group:

enter image description here

Text layer blending options: You can get to layer blending options by right-clicking it in the layers panel and then choosing Blending options. enter image description here

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  • Thank you! My originally scenario is basically just literally asking for knockout -- I just had no idea it existed. (And yes, I did extensively attempt to google this. It's hard to google things as a newbie :( )
    – Raynor Kuang
    Jun 25, 2021 at 20:56

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