Alt-click a layer mask thumbnail to view the raw black and white mask and catch any nasties or gaps.

With a mask selected, Ctrl/Cmd + L opens Levels, letting you crunch soft grey values into clean hard edges without having to edit or redraw.

Inside Free Transform, hold Alt and drag to reposition the anchor point before rotating, giving you precise control over how and where a layer pivots.

Add a Hue/Saturation adjustment with 'Colorize' enabled, then set the layer to Multiply to push a shadow away from flat black toward a believable warm or ambient tone.

Click the arrow next to the 'FX' badge on a layer to collapse its style list without disabling any effects, keeping deep layer stacks readable when you're multiple effects deep.