Creating a layer

Creating a layer - already?

Creating a layer Level layer, try it

To create a layer is easy but this being PS CC you have four ways of doing so

The layer menu
The ayer adjustement icons
The layer menu at the bottom left of the screen
The fourth is to create a layer using a shortcut but this does not apply to all layer style so... I'll let you discover that on your own.

We will be using this menu, visible in the photography workspace.

The line above the icon describes the adjustement you are about to select. This is additional to a more descriptive popup that will show if you let the mouse cursor hover an icon for a couple of secondes.

For the purpose of this page click on upper left icon, that look like a weird sun (Brightness and Contrast)

To find the same adjustement using the menus, click on Menu > File > New Adjustement Layer > Brightness/Constrast or click on the half moon icon at the bottom right and select Brighteness/Contrast.

Ok, so now you should be looking at something like I have below.

Let's explain what we are looking at here...

- The first icon on the left, the eye indicates the visibility of the layer. If the eye is 'bright' the layer is active (effect is visible). If it is dimmed the layer is inactive (effect is invisible).

- The second icon indicates the layer type. A half moon is an adjustement layer. A rectangle with small squares indicate a pixel layer. A 'T' indicates a text layer.

- The chain link means that the mask is tied to the layer. I have not found an use for this at the moment.

- The white rectangle is the layer mask. It defaults to white meaning everything is visible. The mask is active by default. The mask layer can be disabled or deleted. Right click on it and select your action.

- A frame around a mask or layer type indicates that this part is active and editable.

- Then you have the layer name. By default it takes the adjustement name. You can change it by double clicking on it. You should rename layers systematically by the way.

So far so good no special difficulty.

Let's look at the options that are common to all adjustement layers

On top right, two options:

- 2 left arrows. Click on them and this popup menu will be minimzed.

- Click on the x and the layer option window will close, not the layer. To reopen it simply double click on the layer description area.

Below you have two tabs

- Properties, where you make your adjustements

- info. This will tell you what are the RGB values under the cursor. You can click and drag it out of the adjustement menu and leave it where ever. Info is an important tool to have but not at the moment.

Under the tabs you have two icons.

- The left one varies with the layer type or purpose is.

- The second a white rectangle with a dark circle inside it refers to the layer pixel control mask.

The middle part varies depending of the layer purpose. These are the options used to acheive the desired result. A scrollbar may appear on the right side if the window is too small for everything to be visible.

Last but not list are the bottom icons.

- The first one a white square with an arrow down tells the layer what it is to interact with. As shown in this image it will influence all the layers beneath. Click on it. The background under the icon changes. Something else has also changed, you now see the down arrow symbol onto the layer.

- The second icon, an eye with an arrow on the right is used to check the effect.

- The third icon, the left curved arrow resets the layer to its default

- The eye toggles the layer effect visibility on or off

- The last icon, a trash can simply delete the layer. You will see a confirmation dialogue if you click on it and an option to remove the warning.

For information and not to be forgotten, if you have created a selection before creating a layer the selection automatically becomes a mask...

I will not go over the masking options as it will be covered in depth later on.

Last page update: 01/14/2016

It is not what you know that is important, how you use it is.

This site is under construction.

This site is created on my experience, past and present.

It introduces opinions that are not shared by many but reflect what I think is fair and informative.