How to Fill in Photoshop

Co-authored by wikiHow Staff

This wikiHow teaches you how to select an area in an image and mask it with a solid color fill in Adobe Photoshop, using a computer.

1

Open an image in Photoshop. You can do this by launching Photoshop and going to File > Open to select a file.
- Unless you're opening a file with multiple layers saved in it, this will make the selected image the background layer of your Photoshop canvas.

2

This is a safety precaution. If you do this, you don't have to worry about making crucial mistakes and messing up the original image in the background.
- Right-click the background layer on the Layers panel on the lower-right corner, and select Duplicate Layer here.
- Alternatively, you can select your background layer on the Layers panel, and press ⌘ Command+J on Mac or Control+J on Windows.

3

This tool looks like a paintbrush icon and a dashed circle on the toolbar panel. You can find it in the upper-left corner of your screen.
- You can also just press W on your keyboard to switch to Quick Selection.
- The Quick Selection tool is grouped with the Magic Wand tool on the toolbar. If you can't find Quick Selection, click and hold Magic Wand to access it.
- Alternatively, you can use the Marquee Tool to make a selection. It will allow you to select a rectangular or elliptical area in the image.

4

Click all the areas you want to include in your selection. As you click each option, you'll see dashed lines around the edges.
- If you select an area by mistake, you can remove it from your selection by holding Alt and clicking on the area you want to exclude.
- You can adjust your selection's brush tip size in the upper-left corner of the Photoshop window.

5

This menu item is next to File on the top-left. It will open a drop-down menu.

6

The Fill tool is on the Edit menu. This will open your Fill options in a new pop-up window.
- If you want to use a keyboard shortcut, press ⇧ Shift+F5 to open and use the Fill tool.

7

Click the "Contents" drop-down menu and choose Color. This option will allow you to fill the selected area with a solid color fill. It will open the Color Picker window.
- Alternatively, try other options here like Content Aware and Pattern.
- Content Aware will fill the selected area with patterns derived from around your selection. It will remove whatever's inside your selection, and replace it with what's in the background.
- Pattern will allow you to select a custom graphic pattern and fill the selected area with it.