**Program Tutorials** : Photoshop : *Program Basic

Layer Basics in Photoshop CS2

At the very heart of successful digital scrapping lies the mastery of layers, but for a person who is new to such a program, the concept can be a little difficult to grasp. This tutorial is designed to help you have the "light bulb" moment.

From the Photoshop Help file:

Layers allow you to work on one element of an image without disturbing the others. Think of layers as sheets of acetate stacked one on top of the other. You can see through transparent areas of a layer to the layers below.

That may not make a lot of sense to you when you just read the words, so here is a screenshot from the Photoshop help file.

Each layer usually has one object on it, and the areas that are transparent on one layer will show you what is on the layer beneath. The layers palette shows the layers from a side view, whereas the image itself shows a view as if looking from the top down. I think this is the part that is confusing between looking at the image itself and the layers palette.

So the above image would have a layer with a photo of some cows, a layer of what appears to be corn, a layer that is a photo that looks like it is looking over a big valley, and a bottom layer that is solid white. If you looked at this image in Photoshop, you would not even see the white layer because the landscape layer is the same size with no transparent areas and would totally cover the white. The cows and the corn each allow some part of the lower layers to show through.

This is the magic of what makes a layout in digital scrapping. We build our layout by putting objects on separate layers, which allow objects on the layers beneath to show through, except for our bottom layer which is usually a digital paper.

But what can we do with the layers? The rest of this tutorial will focus on the actual layers palette. By default, the layers palette is showing on your work area when you open Photoshop. If for some reason it is not showing, you can go to the menubar to Window> and click on Layer.

The screenshot we will be using has been expanded so you can see clearly, and is usually not this large in Photoshop.

Lots of things seem to be going on in this screenshot, and as you can guess, this is the layers palette of an image with several layers.

• A. This shows a highlighted layer - or in other words the active layer that you are working with.
• B. Is pointing to the visibility icon - also known as the eyeball. When you click on the icon, it toggles the visibility of that object on or off in your image.
• C. Is pointing to the small thumbnail which represents what is on that layer. I have this set up to show that object in proportion to the entire image. This can be changed in D.
• D. This arrow is pointing to the small arrow which give you access to the flyout menu (screenshot of that menu is below) Many functions for layers are available in this flyout. (I do wish Adobe would make this arrow just a bit larger as it is easy to miss.)
• E. E is pointing to the opacity and fill settings for a layer. This is where you would adjust a layer to make it partially transparent. Opacity applies to the entire layer, while "fill" applies only to the object, and leaves any layer styles untouched.
• F. Right underneath the Layers tab is a dropdown list for layer blending modes. In our sample it is set on normal
• G. Right under the blending modes dropdown is a small row of icons for locking a layer. You can lock the transparency, the image pixels, the position, or all. If you click one of these a padlock shows up on the right side of the layer to indicate something is locked.
• H. A text layer has a different thumbnail than other objects, represented by the letter T. When you have a text layer like this, the actual text will show on the layer and can be edited with the text tool.
• I. More icons along the bottom allow quick access to several features including linking layers, adding layer styles, masks, or adjustment layers. There are also icons for making layer groups, a new layer, and the trash can for deleting a layer.

In our screenshot, the layers have not been named, but in an image with multiple layers, it can be very helpful to name the layers. You can also see there is a scrollbar for moving around the layers palette.

You name the layers by double-clicking on the current layer name and that area converts into a text box with the text highlighted so you can type the name you want to use for that layer.

In the above screenshot you can see the text box and I've already typed in the name I want for the layer. Clicking outside of the text box or using the enter key will make the change effective.

So let's take a look at what is available on the flyout menu - located on the top right corner area of the layers palette - shown as D in the large screenshot above. There are many options on this menu that you may never use, or you may choose to find them in other areas of Photoshop. For example, layer properties can also be found by right-clicking on a layer or blending options can be accessed by using the icon on the bottom of the layers palette. Many of these options are also available on the menubar under Layer.

The one feature that you may like to use the flyout for is to locate the palette options, which is the bottom one on the list. For the large screenshot above I changed the size of the thumbnail to the largest option. The thumbnail contents can also reflect the layer bounds, or a relationship to the entire document. My personal preference is to use the small or medium thumbnail and check "Entire Document", but you may want to experiment with the options to see what you like best.

As mentioned before, there are additional options when you right click on a layer, but please be aware that the menu you get will depend on where you right click on the layer. Right-clicking on the thumbnail will give you some different options than clicking on the layer name.

One final note of caution:

When you drag something into a layout image, such as a photo it will make a new layer for you, but when you use some tools you will need to add a new layer manually. For example if you want to use the brush tool and have a layer active that contains a photo, you'll end up painting right onto your photo - usually not a good idea as it is then not possible make some edits.

Get in the habit of making a new layer for those tools that will add something to your layout - brush tool, flood fill, shapes, pattern stamp, etc. When you're happy with the results, you can then merge the layers into one.