Filling a selection or layer with colors or patterns

You can fill a selection or layer with the foreground color, the background color, or a pattern. In Photoshop, you can use patterns from the pattern libraries provided or create your own patterns. You can also fill a shape using the Color, Gradient, or Pattern Overlay effects or the Solid Color, Gradient, or Pattern fill layers on the Layers palette. When you use fill layers to fill a selection, you can easily change the type of layer being used. For more information, see Using adjustment layers and fill layers (Photoshop).

To fill a selection or a layer with a foreground or background color:

1. Specify a foreground or background color. (See Choosing foreground and background colors.)
2. Select the area you want to fill. To fill an entire layer, select the layer in the Layers palette.
3. Choose Edit > Fill to fill the selection or layer. Or to fill a path, select the path and choose Fill Path from the Paths palette menu.
4. In the Fill dialog box, for Use, choose one of the following options or select a Custom Pattern:
• Foreground Color, Background Color, Black, 50% Gray, or White to fill the selection with the specified color.
• Color to fill with a color you select from the Color Picker.
• Pattern to fill the selection with a pattern. Click the inverted arrow next to the pattern sample and select a pattern from the pop-up palette. You can load additional patterns using the pop-up palette menu. Select the name of a library of patterns or choose Load Patterns and navigate to the folder containing the patterns you want to use.
• History to restore the selected area to a state or snapshot of the image. (See Making a snapshot of an image (Photoshop).)

Note: If you fill a CMYK image using the Black option, Photoshop fills all the channels with 100% black. This may result in more ink than is allowable by the printer. For best results when filling a CMYK image, use the Foreground option with the foreground color set to an appropriate black.

5. Specify the blending mode and opacity for the paint. (See Selecting a blending mode and Setting options for painting and editing tools.)
6. If you're working in a layer and want to fill only areas containing pixels, choose Preserve Transparency.
7. Click the OK button to apply the fill.

To apply a foreground color fill only to the areas that contain pixels, press Alt+Shift+Backspace (Windows) or Option+Shift+Delete (Mac OS). This preserves the transparency of the layer. To apply a background color fill only to the areas that contain pixels, press Ctrl+Shift+Backspace (Windows) or Command+Shift+Delete (Mac OS).

To fill the work canvas:

1. Set the foreground color you want to use for the canvas.
2. Select the Paint Bucket tool .
3. In the options bar, set Fill to Foreground.
4. Hold down Shift, and click in the work canvas.

Note: You need to be in full screen mode and viewing the menus to fill the work canvas.

To fill a selection with a pattern:

1. Select the part of the image you want to fill.
2. Do one of the following:
• Choose Edit > Fill. In the Fill dialog box, for Use, choose Pattern, select a pattern from the pop-up palette, and click OK.

If Pattern is dimmed, you need to load a pattern library before you can select this option. (See Managing libraries with the Preset Manager (Photoshop).)

• Select the Paint Bucket tool . In the options bar, choose Pattern from the Fill pop-up menu and select a pattern from the Pattern pop-up palette. Then click to fill the selected area with the pattern.

Note: You can load additional pattern libraries into the pop-up palette prior to making a selection. (See Creating and managing patterns.)