"Apply Image" in Photoshop CC

[Abitconfused]

I have just observed that selecting "Image > Apply Image" in Photoshop CC, while a layer mask is active, creates a rendering of the image within the mask. You can apply all the variables within Apply Image to change the resultant mask. Is this the point of Apply Image, an oddity of Apply Image, or none of the above?

[IzzieK]

When it says "Apply Image" -- it is a short cut to "Apply to Image"...when you finished editing your shot. You can also press that same button even in the middle of your editing then continue editing further.

[Manfred M]

The command creates a layer mask that is used to blend two images together (for instance photocomposites). Both images have to be open and have to be the same size / colour space, etc.

[jisner]

I have just observed that selecting "Image > Apply Image" in Photoshop CC, while a layer mask is active, creates a rendering of the image within the mask. You can apply all the variables within Apply Image to change the resultant mask. Is this the point of Apply Image, an oddity of Apply Image, or none of the above?

The way to use Apply Image is to first select the pixel layer, layer mask, or channel that you want to modify. This is known as the "target." Now click Image -> Apply Image. At the bottom of the dialog, you will see the target you have specified (you can't change it). At the top of the dialog, you select the source document, layer, and channel. You can also choose how the source will be blended with the target.

An example: say you have a Curve Adjustment layer with a default white layer mask and you want to try out different masks to see their effect on the image. Select the layer mask, then click Image -> Apply Image. In the dialog, you will see the target specified as something like "docname, Curves 1, layer mask" (it's hard-coded, you can't change it). Whatever you select in the Source portion of the dialog will be "applied" to the white mask using the blending mode. If you want the curve adjustment to use the composite green channel as its layer mask, select the same document, same layer, and green with mode Normal.

People who use luminosity masks use Apply Image to try out different masks on adjustment layers. Assuming the masks exist as channels, Apply Image lets them quickly try out different masks by simply selecting the channel in the dialog and observing the effect on the image. Panels like Tony Kuyper's TK5 automate a lot of this so you don't have to use Apply Image directly, but Apply Image is working behind the scenes.

Anyone else watching this thread: can you provide a simpler application?