How can I mask the transparency area of a picture?

[michellel32717751]

I have a photo template file (square photo frame) and the inside of the photo frame is a transparency area for an picture to be inserted; I need to know how to mask the inside of the photo frame only; but every time I use the mask option it mask outside of the photo frame, I can not insert a picture with the inside background picture showing

[melissapiccone]

Select the inside of the frame, click on the new layer mask button at the bottom of layers panel. If it is backwards, hit cmd or cntrl + i with the layer mask selected and it will invert your selection. You can also double click on the layer mask and a properties panel will pop up - it has an invert button.

[michellel32717751]

Thank you I will following your instructions to invert the selection

[Norman Sanders]

Consider an option where a mask is not needed at all. I imagine you have a template with transparent cells such as the one shown here. If that is the case:

Use the Magic Wand set to Contiguous in the Options bar to Select a cell. Marching ants will appear.

Choose an image, such as the one on the left. Select > All followed by Edit > Copy

Return to the template. Choose Edit > Paste Special > Paste Into. The result will be Figure 2

To resize the the image to fit, Edit > Transform > Scale. Hold down the Shift key to maintain proportion.

[Bojan Živković]

This tutorial may help you How to Invert Layer and Vector Masks in Photoshop - YouTube