Use a mask to crop a photo to a shape.
A mask uses the shape at the very back to crop the objects above it. With one circle, you can crop a photo round, invert the mask to punch a hole, and release it at any time.
Crop a photo into a circle
The photo you want to crop needs to be in the scene. Images, video, and audio shows how to add one.
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Draw the shape to crop to
Choose Ellipse in the toolbar, or press C. Hold ⇧ and drag over the photo to draw a circle. Only the part the circle covers will remain. The circle’s color doesn’t matter.
Pressing C and dragging with ⇧ held draws a perfect circle. Video: Pressing C, then dragging while holding Shift, draws a perfect circle. -
Send the shape to the back
With the circle selected, press the left bracket key [. The circle goes behind the photo, out of sight. In the Objects list, the circle’s row also moves below the photo’s row. A mask crops to the shape of the object at the very back.
Pressing [ sends the circle behind the photo, and its row in the Objects list drops to the bottom. Video: The circle drawn over the photo is selected. Pressing the left bracket key hides it behind the photo, and its row in the Objects list moves below the photo’s row. -
Select both
With the circle still selected, hold ⌘ and click the photo’s row in the Objects list. The circle and the photo are selected together. The circle is hidden behind the photo, so selecting from the list is more reliable.
Holding ⌘ and clicking the photo’s row selects both rows, the circle and the photo. Video: With the circle selected, holding ⌘ and clicking the photo’s row in the Objects list selects both rows, the circle and the photo. -
Use it as a mask
Right-click the selected photo and choose Use as Mask. The photo shows only inside the circle. In the Objects list, “Group 1” appears holding the two, and the circle is the bottom row inside it. On the web, you can also press ⌘M. In the desktop app, that key minimizes the window, so use the right-click menu.
Choosing Use as Mask from the right-click menu crops the photo into a circle. Video: With the circle and the photo selected, right-clicking the photo and choosing Use as Mask crops the photo into a circle, and Group 1 appears in the Objects list.
Right after you make a mask, the two objects inside are selected, not the group
Press ⌘M or ⌘⇧M now, and you get one more mask group wrapped around those two. Before you invert or release the mask, click an empty spot on the canvas to clear the selection. Then click the masked photo to select the group. If you made one by mistake, undo it with ⌘Z.
Work with the mask
First click an empty spot on the canvas, then click the masked photo to select “Group 1”.
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Punch a hole
Right-click the group and choose Invert Mask. A circle-shaped hole opens, and the photo outside the circle shows. To undo it, choose Restore Mask in the same place. In the Group panel on the right, Mask › Invert also turns it on and off.
Choosing Invert Mask cuts out the circle, and the photo outside the circle shows. Video: After a click on an empty spot, clicking the circular photo selects Group 1. Right-clicking it and choosing Invert Mask cuts out the circle, and the photo outside the circle shows. -
Move the mask shape
In the Objects list, click the circle: the bottom row inside “Group 1”. Only the circle is selected. Drag the circle, and the visible part of the photo moves with it. Click the photo’s row and drag, and only the photo moves inside the circle.
Clicking the circle’s row and dragging the circle to the right moves the visible area to another part of the photo. Video: In the Objects list, clicking the circle, the bottom row inside Group 1, selects it. Dragging it to the right on the canvas moves the visible part of the photo with it. -
Release the mask
Right-click the group and choose Release Mask. The whole photo shows again, but the circle and the photo stay grouped. To separate them, right-click and choose Ungroup. On the web, you can also press ⌘M. In the desktop app, that key minimizes the window, so use the right-click menu.
How a mask crops
In a mask group, the bottom object is the mask. The mask itself doesn’t show, and every object above it shows only inside its shape. So you can crop several objects together to one shape, such as a photo and some text. In the Objects list, a mask group has a small blue dot on its icon.
If you make the mask while the circle is still above the photo, the order is reversed and the photo becomes the mask. Then the photo doesn’t show, and the circle shows only inside the rectangle where the photo sits. Undo with ⌘Z, select the circle, press [ to send it to the back, and try again.
The mask’s color doesn’t matter. Rectangles, ellipses, and paths crop to their exact shape. Text, images, videos, and objects with effects crop by how opaque they look as drawn. That’s how a photo can show through the shape of letters, and why a circle with a Blur effect, used as a mask, gives edges that fade away softly. Effects and blend modes shows how to add effects.
When you select a mask group, the selection box is the size of the mask shape. For an inverted mask, it’s the size of the photo inside. Right after you invert or restore a mask, the Object panel still shows the old Size numbers. Click an empty spot on the canvas, then select the group again.
Simpler crops, and photos in the shape of text
To just round the corners. Skip the mask and select the photo. Drag a blue dot inside a corner inward, and all four corners round together. See Shapes and frames.
To hide only what sticks out of a box. Put it in a frame, and anything outside the frame is hidden. See Clip Contents in Shapes and frames.
To show a photo in the shape of text. Send big, bold text behind the photo, select both, and choose Use as Mask. The photo shows only inside the letters.
Shortcuts on this page
| Use as mask · release mask (web) | ⌘M |
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| Invert mask · restore mask (with two or more selected, group them into an inverted mask) | ⌘⇧M |
| Send to back | [ |
| Add to the selection one at a time in the list | ⌘+click a row |
| Ungroup | ⌘⇧G |
Updated 10/16/2026 · The videos on this page were recorded in the current editor.