In Photoshop, if a selection is active (e.g. from Select Subject & Remove Background (AI Subject Isolation), refined via Select and Mask: Edge Refinement (Shift Edge & Refine Edge Brush)), creating a new Solid Color fill layer, Gradient layer, or adjustment layer (Brightness/Contrast, Hue/Saturation, the newer Color and Vibrance layer) automatically uses that selection to build the new layer's mask. This collapses "select subject, then build a mask" into a single step — add the layer and the mask is already targeted correctly.
This is the pivot that turns a one-click AI selection into a whole family of non-destructive, subject-targeted edits without manually painting any mask:
Complements Non-Destructive PSD Workflow (Layered Editing) as the mechanism that keeps mask-building non-destructive and fast.
A selection loaded into a mask doesn't have to come from Select Subject or a manual selection tool on the target layer itself — it can come from Cmd/Ctrl-clicking the thumbnail of an unrelated shape layer to load that shape's silhouette as the active selection, then switching to a different layer and applying that selection as its mask. Demonstrated in Portrait Slice Effect (Step-and-Repeat Masking + Shift-Move): a step-and-repeated bar-shape layer (see Step and Repeat (Photoshop Offset-Duplication Technique)) is Cmd/Ctrl-clicked to load its stripe pattern as a selection, which is then applied as a mask on the duplicated photo layer. Once loaded, the source shape layer can be hidden — its only job was to define the mask geometry.
Из тем: Photoshop Foundations: Non-Destructive Editing & Selection