7 Layers Palette
Used
for creating, and controlling layers
Grouped with the Channels, and Paths palettes
In the default arrangement, this one will be in the group at the bottom of your column of palettes. If the Layers palette is hidden behind the Channels, or Paths palettes, click on its title tab to bring it to the front, or choose Window > Show Layers.
How to describe layers...
Most books, including the Adobe manual, compare them to sheets of acetate
stacked on top of each other. However, this is slightly misleading because
clipping groups, and layer masks will make parts of layers opaque to selected
portions of some layers only.
You can do almost any kind of painting, and editing on one layer without affecting any of the other layers, and that’s where their power lies. Even effects, and image adjustments can be applied to a duplicate image on its own layer, and therefore, can also be deleted without disturbing the underlying image, if you don’t like the effect.
It’s not hard to learn how to use layers, and there are at least as many things that you can do with them as you have time to spend playing with your computer. It is beyond the scope of my one page of instruction to even begin to go into all the layers features and options available. Read your manual, use the online help in Photoshop, and experiment.
An excellent way to get a little bit of a feel for what can be done with layers is to look at one of the sample images that is installed with Photoshop 7 (unless you deselected it in a custom install). They’re in the Samples folder within the Photoshop application folder. Try looking at the Morning Glass or Piccolo site images. Try expanding and collapsing the various layer sets in the Piccolo site picture. Turn on/off the various layers in the Morning Glass picture. When you close the image, don’t save any changes (choose No when Photoshop asks if you want to save changes).
Please note that layers can only be saved in Photoshop’s .psd format and in .tif format. If you need to use an image in another format, it is a good idea to save a copy in Photoshop format to retain the layers in case you want to edit it later.
The background layer is the only layer that does not allow transparency. You are not required to have a background layer, and can change it into a ‘regular’layer by double-clicking the word “background”(the layer’s name), in the Layers palette. In the dialog box that appears, give the layer a name, or simply click OK without naming it. Either way, the background will be changed into a fully unlocked layer. Please note, that in order to rename any other layer you must press the Alt key while double-clicking the layer’s name.
For extensive information about each of the different layers effects, as well as the advanced blending options, please see the Reference: Effects section.
Please note that this entire palettes section has been updated from a Photoshop 6 version (which was updated from a 5.5 version). Wherever the palette is essentially the same as it was in 6, I have continued to use the screen capture illustrations made using that version. So if you notice cosmetic discrepancies in the illustrations, that’s why. In all instances where features were added or changed, I have made new screen captures.
The illustration below left shows the Layers palette with numbers added for ID purposes. At the top of the palette, and not numbered, the box showing Normal contains the blend modes menu. To its right, is the Opacity box which can be set by typing in a value, or by clicking on the arrow on the right side of the box to access a pop-up slider which can be dragged to set the value. A high value is more opaque; a low value is more transparent.
Numbered buttons at the bottom of the palette are:
1) New Layer Style; please read the Styles page
for details
2) New Layer Mask
3) New Layer Set
4) New Adjustment or Fill Layer
5) Add New Layer button
6) the Trash, or delete button
The Fill opacity slider (directly below the general Opacity slider) is new in Photoshop 7. This allows you to reduce the opacity of the layer’s contents without reducing the opacity of any added styles. This option was available in Photoshop 6 but only from within the styles dialog.
The options menu shown to the right is found by clicking little arrow in the top right corner of the Layers palette.
The second row of illustrations below shows two of the context menus that you get if you right-click on a part of the layers palette. The menu on the left appears if you click on a part of a layer that does not contain any thumbnail, mask or name (which can be hard to do). The menu on the right is what you get if you right-click on a layer when it’s in mask edit mode. Not shown is the context menu that you get if you right-click on the italic f of a layer with a layer style. That one includes all of the styles (for going directly to the relevant dialog) and most of the style edit options such as Use Global Light, and Scale Style.
Shown below left, is the menu found when you click the New Layer Style button, which is #1 in the illustration above. Below right, is the menu that you find if you click on the New Adjustment or Fill button which is #4 in the illustration above.
Directly below the two menus are the palette lock options. Items
from left to right are Transparency (the checkerboard), Image (the paintbrush
icon), Position, and All. The two different lock icons you will see at
the right side of individual locked layers indicate fully locked,
left below, which means a layer cannot be edited, and partially locked,
shown right below, which means one or more (but not all) of the lock options
has been selected. If you choose Lock All Linked from the palette menu,
you’ll get a dialog allowing you to choose from all of these lock options
in one go (rather than having to do it for each layer).
The last two illustrations, below, show individual layers. The first one shows, from left to right, the eye icon which means the layer is visible, the layer mask icon which means the layer mask is being edited. If the layer, and not the mask, were in edit mode, the paintbrush icon would show there. Next we see the layer thumbnail which is a checkerboard because it’s transparent. Beside the layer thumbnail is the linked icon which means the mask is linked to its underlying layer. Next is the mask thumbnail, with a double outline indicating that it is selected.
Below that is another layer, this time, with the eye icon not showing in the left most box. This means the layer has been made not visible. Beside it is the link icon which means the layer is linked to the layer above it. And at the far right side of that layer is the partially locked icon which is standard on background layers as they can’t be moved (unless they are turned into a regular layer, first).
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