Adobe Photoshop CC For Dummies, 2nd Edition

Chapter 12

Dressing Up Images with Layer Styles

IN THIS CHAPTER

Understanding layer styles

Applying layer styles with the Styles panel

Creating your own styles

Preserving your custom layer style

In artwork and photography, you use shadows and highlights in your image to produce the illusion of depth. Highlights and shadows lead the viewer to imagine that a light is falling on parts of a 3D object. You can also use a shadow or glow to make it appear that some distance exists between one object in the image and another object behind it. Photoshop’s built-in layer styles help you add shadows, glows, and other effects almost instantly.

In this chapter, I explain how transparent areas on layers enable lower layers to show through and let your layer styles appear on those lower layers. You get a good look at the Styles panel and how you use it to store and apply layer styles, including your very own custom styles. I then present the all-important (for layer styles) Layer Style dialog box and the various effects that you can add with it. I also show you how to save (and protect) your custom ...