Photoshop - Need Help With Layers

OK, you now have  Photoshop ,now you just need to figure out how to use this thing so lets start with  photoshop  help layers.This business can be so confusing. It’s such an enormous subject and there’s just so much power and flexibility the layers element can provide. Mastering  photoshop   does not come over night. The more time and effort that you spend playing with this element the more you will see the potential and understand it.

Layers were first introduced in  Photoshop  3.0. This single addition totally revolutionized  photoshop . For the very first time you could do complex compositions easily that a professional would be proud off. A layer in  photoshop  is quite simply one image placed on top of another. Imagine I have a piece of paper that is blue. Then take a piece of clear plastic and paint a ship on it, and lay it over the paper. Now take another of clear plastic and paint some words on it, now lay that on top of the ship. You now have a background (blue) and 2 layers (ship and words).

 Photoshop  makes use of the Layers Pallet to allow you to do this with your images.If you have more than one  it’s usually called a composition. Photoshop’s  Pallet is a an extremely powerful application that allows you do many special things to your images.

Here is a summary of the commands.

Layer Effects (Styles): Special effects added to your image layer. Shown by the little f. Each effect added will be listed,and multiple effects can be used at once.

Type Layer: The same as an image layer, except this one has type that can be edited; (You can change font, size, character etc.)

Background: This is always locked, It can not be moved or have effects added to it. The icon of the padlock on the right, indicates it’s locked.

Thumbnail: A small picture of the layers contents.

Show/Hide Icon: If the eye is showing that layers element is open and visible. Click on the eye and it will still be there but invisible until you click on the eye again.

The Most Common Layers Features

Blending mode: Changes the way the layers work with each other.Play with the different modes to give you some ideas as to what is available.

Layer opacity: This adjusts how transparent each level is. 0 is completely transparent, 100 is completely opaque.

Lock all: If the box is checked the image is protected from any editing.

Lock Position: You can make all changes except for moving the image.

Lock Image pixels: You can not draw on this image if checked.

Lock transparent: You can paint on this part but not where it is transparent.

Delete: Will delete an entire layers.

New Layer: Click to add a new blank page. Or you can drag an existing thumbnail to create a duplicate.

New Adjustment: Allows for non-destructive adjustment of colors. (Can be undone anytime, even after closing document)

Create a new set: Allows you to organize your layers into folders.

Mask: Allows you to scrub away parts of your layer without damaging your original image.

Styles: Special effects for your layers. (Allows you to do some pretty cool things with no effort)