Chapter 4. Working with Layers
The use of layers is one of the most powerful concepts in Photoshop Layers are so important that a comprehensive main menu and a full palette are dedicated to working with them. Even with all these controls, you must remember that working with layers is more than a set of commands and options: Using layers is a workflow methodology.
Layers in Photoshop allow you to build flexibility into your editing workflow so that you're able to keep your future options open. You do this by placing important image information on separate layers. Understanding how layers work in Photoshop will change the way you work with important images forever.
In this chapter, I get you up to speed with the whole concept of layers and how to work with them in Photoshop. I cover everything from creating layers in a variety of ways to different ways of merging multiple layers and flattening all layers. By the end of this chapter, you'll be ready to take advantage of some of the techniques I share in later chapters.
Because the use of layers is central to much of what we do later, this is one of the more important chapters in this book. Even if you already feel comfortable with layers in Photoshop, I suggest you review this chapter as a refresher. You may even pick up a new trick or two.
What Are Layers?
Let's think about ...
Get Photoshop® CS3 Restoration and Retouching Bible now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
