Clipping masks / Is there a better way?

[Jayell]

OK .. with the situation as shown below .. Using Photoshop PS5
At the last minute I wanted to change the color of the red frame, using a hue-saturation layer. But because the frame and hue-sat layer are both clipped (along with Layer 1) to the Photo layer, Layer 1 will also change colors .. which I DON'T want. I worked around it by merging the hue-sat and frame layer together, but is there a way to accomplish this and keep the hue-sat layer available for later modification?

hue-sat-question.JPG

[Bob]

Probably the easiest way is to select both the hue-saturation layer and the ribbon layer and select "convert to smart object" from the right click context menu. To change the color, double click on the smart object layer and the two layers will be brought up in a separate window. Change the hue-saturation setting as desired and save to update the smart object.

[Jayell]

Thanks, Bob. I haven't worked with Smart Objects at all .. which could be why I didn't think of that. Guess it's time I start learning how to use them.

[Bob]

Smart Objects are incredibly useful and well worth learning. But, since the ribbon layer has transparency, you can do this fairly easily without Smart Objects the old fashioned way using the layer mask on the hue-saturation layer.

Press the ctrl key and click on the thumbnail of the ribbon layer to get the selection corresponding to the shape of the ribbon. Add the hue-saturation layer and the included layer mask will be automatically filled to match the selection and the adjustments will only apply to the ribbon.

For a simple application like this one, there's not a lot of difference either way. But, the Smart Object method is a bit more flexible as you can easily swap out the ribbon for another type of border, and you can apply nondestructive transformations and effects. With the layer mask method, you will need to recreate the mask to correspond to the new border.

[Jayell]

Press the ctrl key and click on the thumbnail of the ribbon layer to get the selection corresponding to the shape of the ribbon. Add the hue-saturation layer and the included layer mask will be automatically filled to match the selection and the adjustments will only apply to the ribbon.

That's what I was looking for! And it works because of the selection. Got it.
Thanks again .. and I WILL start learning about Smart Objects. Don't get too far away.