Photoshop Elements 3 for Windows and Macintosh: Visual QuickStart Guide

Layer Basics

When you first start working with layers, you

need to master a few fundamental tasks. First,

you can create and name a new layer and

then add images (or parts of images) to it.

Once your image has multiple layers, you

must first select a layer to work on that

layer’s image. Keep in mind that any changes

you make will affect only the selected, or

active layer, and that only one layer can be

active at a time.

To create a new layer:

1.

From the Layer menu or from the Layers

palette menu, select New > Layer, or press

Shift+Ctrl+N/Shift+Command+N.

2.

In the New Layer dialog box, choose from

the following options:

▲

Rename the layer with a more mean-

ingful and intuitive name related to

its contents. The default names are

Layer 1, Layer 2, Layer 3, and so on

(Figure 5.7).

▲

Choose a blending mode for the layer.

The default blending mode is Normal,

meaning that no change will be applied

to the layer. This option is fine for most

purposes. You can still decide to exper-

iment with blending modes later, by

selecting the layer and making adjust-

ments from the Layers palette.

▲

Choose the level of opacity for the layer.

Again, opacity is something that’s

often adjusted later, from the Layers

palette, so it’s perfectly fine to stick

with the default opacity mode (100

percent) for now.

Figure 5.8 Click the New Layer icon to quickly create a

new, blank layer.

Figure 5.7 Default layer names are Layer 1 for the first

layer you create, Layer 2, Layer 3, and so on. You can

enter a new name when creating a layer, or you can

rename it later.

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✔ Tips

■

You can also quickly create a new layer by

clicking the New Layer icon near the top

of the Layers palette (Figure 5.8). The

new layer appears as the top layer in the

palette with the default blending and

opacity modes. To rename the new layer,

double-click its name in the Layers palette

and enter a new name directly there.

■

To work more easily on your image, you

can choose to show or hide any of its lay-

ers from the Layers palette.

To select a layer:

Do one of the following:

◆

On the Layers palette, click the Layer

thumbnail or name to make that layer

active.

A paintbrush icon appears in the left col-

umn, indicating that this is the active

layer (Figure 5.9).

If you’ve just imported an image from a

digital camera or scanner, then by default

it will only have one layer—the back-

ground layer, which is selected by default.

◆

Select the Move tool and right-click/

Control-click a spot in your image where

the layers overlap.

A context-sensitive menu appears,

showing all of the layers containing pix-

els in that specific spot (Figure 5.10).

Select the desired layer from the context-

sensitive menu.

✔ Tip

■

When you try to select or make changes

to an area in your image, you sometimes

may keep getting weird and unexpected

results. For example, your selection can’t

be copied, or you apply a filter but noth-

ing happens. More often than not, this is

because you don’t have the correct layer

selected. Just refer to the Layers palette to

see if this is the case. Remember that the

active layer always has a paintbrush icon

to its left.

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Working with Layers

Layer Basics

Figure 5.10 Right-click (Windows) or Control-click

(Mac OS) to view and select layers from the

context menu.

Figure 5.9 Click the layer name or thumbnail to make

it the active (editable) layer.

To show or hide a layer:

◆

On the Layers palette, click the eye icon

to hide the layer (the eye disappears).

Click again and the eye reappears, and

makes the layer visible again in the image

window (Figure 5.11).

✔ Tips

■

You can quickly show or hide multiple

layers by simply dragging through the eye

column.

■

To quickly display just one layer, Alt-

click/Option-click the eye icon for the

desired layer. All of the other layers will

become hidden. Alt-click/Option-click

again to show all of the layers.

To delete a layer:

1.

Select a layer on the Layers palette.

2.

Do one of the following:

▲

From the Layer menu or from the

Layers palette menu, choose Delete

Layer (Figure 5.12).

▲

Click the Trash icon on the Layers

palette (Figure 5.13) and then

click Yes.

▲

Drag the layer to the Trash icon on the

Layers palette.

Figure 5.13 Clicking the trash icon also removes the

selected layer.

Figure 5.12 Choose Layer > Delete Layer

from the Layer menu (or Layers palette

menu) to delete a selected layer.

Figure 5.11 Click the eye icon to hide a layer; click

again to make the layer visible.

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