Adobe® Photoshop® CS2 Studio Techniques

Adjusting a Single Layer

You can limit an Adjustment Layer to affecting a single layer by creating a Clipping Mask. Create a new Adjustment Layer and hold the Option key (Mac) or Alt key (Windows) when choosing an adjustment from the Adjustment Layer pop-up menu at the bottom of the Layers palette. Then, when the New Layer dialog box appears, turn on the Use Previous Layer to Create Clipping Mask checkbox, which will cause a small down-pointing arrow to appear next to the Adjustment Layer, which indicates that it is only applying to the underlying layer (Figures 11.57 and 11.58). If the Adjustment Layer is pre-existing, position it directly above the layer you'd like to affect and with the Adjustment Layer active, choose Layer > Create Clipping ...