Photoshop® Elements 8 For Dummies®

Chapter 8. Working with Layers

In This Chapter

• Getting to know layers and the Layers panel

• Working with the Layer and Select menus

• Using different layer types

• Creating new layers

• Moving and transforming layers

• Merging and flattening layers

Using Elements without ever using layers would be like typing a book on an old IBM Selectric typewriter: Sure, you could do it, but it wouldn't be fun. An even bigger issue would occur when it came time to edit that book and make changes. Correction tape, Wite-Out, and erasers would make that task downright tedious, not to mention messy. The benefit of using layers is that you have tremendous flexibility. You can quickly make as many edits as you want for as long as you want, as long as you keep your composite image in layers. Layers make working in Elements a lot more productive. Don't give a darn about productivity? Well, let's just say that layers also make it a breeze for you to dabble in your more artsy side. This chapter explains the tools and techniques you need to start working with layers. After you try them out, you'll wonder how you ever lived without them.

Getting to Know Layers

Think of layers as sheets of acetate or clear transparency film. You have drawings or photographs on individual sheets. What you place on each sheet doesn't affect any of the other sheets. Any area on the sheet that doesn't have an image on it is transparent. You can ...