Painting and Drawing > Filling and stroking selections and layers > Filling a selection or layer with colors or patterns
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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 Elements, 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. (See  Using the Layers palette and Using adjustment layers and fill layers.)

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.

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.

    • 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).
  • 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 and navigate to the folder containing the patterns you want to use.

    • 5 Specify the blending mode and opacity for the paint. (See 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 OK to fill the selection.

    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  Working with presets.)
  • Select the paint bucket tool (). In the options bar, set Fill to Pattern and click the inverted arrow next to the pattern sample and select a pattern from the 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  Using pop-up palettes.)

    Painting and Drawing > Filling and stroking selections and layers > Filling a selection or layer with colors or patterns