If you ve used Photoshop for ay legth of time, you ve o doubt used layers; they re such a key feature of the software. I fact, if you re doig aythig other tha simple photo retouchig, layers are pretty much essetial. The beauty of layers is that you ca work o differet parts of your image idepedetly; if you draw o oe layer, the other layers i your image remai utouched. This meas you ca easily try out differet ideas (ad easily scrap them if you do t like them!). Layers offer you a great deal of flexibility whe it comes to creatig your images. If you do t like the positio of a logo, for example, simply drag it to a ew positio if it s o its ow layer, the it ll move o its ow, without disturbig the rest of the image. You ca also use layers artistically. For example, layer bledig modes give you a wealth of compositio tricks that you ca use to really make your images come to life, while adjustmet layers allow you to make toal adjustmets to your images without alterig the uderlyig pixels. CROSS-REF Itroducig Layers COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL Lear more about layer bledig modes i Chapter 7. I this chapter, you look at the history of layers i Photoshop ad explore key cocepts such as the Layers palette ad trasparecy. Each of the basic layer types is explaied, ad some of the uses ad applicatios of layers are discussed. Fially, we fiish off with a simple example to help cemet the cocepts that are itroduced. IN THIS CHAPTER Gettig to kow layers Learig the Layers palette Uderstadig trasparecy Explorig layer types Discoverig layer tricks ad techiques Touchig o the ew layer features i CS3 Applyig layers to real-world situatios 3
Part I Layer Basics Uderstadig the Layers Cocept A good way to uderstad the cocept of layers is to thik of them as physical sheets of acetate laid o top of each other (see Figure 1.1). You ca add, copy, ad delete layers; you ca hide them, ad move them aroud horizotally ad vertically i the image; ad you ca also move layers up ad dow the stack to chage their order. Whe you chage somethig o oe layer, you oly affect that layer. FIGURE 1.1 Layers are like sheets of acetate each layer is idepedet of the others. Stoehege Layers ad Photoshop Before layers were itroduced i versio 3 of Photoshop, every chage you made to your image was effectively applied to a sigle layer. You ca imagie how difficult this made thigs for Photoshop desigers! All chages were pretty much permaet. Photoshop did t eve have a History palette the, so you oly had oe udo level. Uderstadably, folks usig Photoshop 2 ad earlier used to make a lot of backup copies of their Photoshop files! 4
Itroducig Layers 1 Now you have a variety of layer types to choose from ad a rage of powerful layer editig features. It s hard to imagie workig i Photoshop without usig layers; they really have become a cetral part of the software. Most of the time, whe you work o a image i Photoshop you re workig o a sigle layer at a time. For example, most of the filters, the image adjustmet fuctios uder Image Adjustmets, ad the stadard cut ad copy commads (Edit Cut ad Edit Copy) all work o the curret layer oly. NOTE Some tools, such as the Type tools ad the Shape tools (by default at least), also create ew layers whe you use them. Itroducig the Layers Palette Most of the layer-based actio i Photoshop higes aroud the Layers palette, as show i Figure 1.2, so take a quick look at its features. If this palette is ot curretly visible, you ca eable it by choosig Widow Layers or pressig F7. FIGURE 1.2 The Layers palette i Photoshop Bledig Mode Opacity cotrol Fill cotrol Active layer Iactive layers Backgroud layer Lik Layers ico Lock optios Add Layer Mask ico Create a New Group ico New Layer ico Delete Layer ico New Fill or Adjustmet Layer ico Add a Layer Style ico 5
Part I Layer Basics The Layers palette usually shows at least oe curretly selected layer (called the active layer). Photoshop also gives each layer a ame to help you idetify it more easily. The ame of the active layer is always show i bold text i the Layers palette, ad the layer itself is shaded a differet color to the other layers i the palette. The active layer s ame is also show i the title bar of the documet widow, which is hady for those times whe your Layers palette is buried uder te documet widows ad seve other palettes. The Layers palette icludes the followig cotrols to help you work with layers: Bledig Mode: This pop-up meu lets you cotrol how the active layer bleds with the layers below it. For more iformatio, refer to Chapter 7. Lock optios: These four buttos allow you to lock various aspects of a layer its trasparecy pixels, its image pixels, its positio, or all three. For more iformatio, see Chapter 2. Opacity ad Fill cotrols: These optios let you specify how much of the image udereath the active layer shows through. For more o these cotrols, see Chapter 2. Lik Layers ico: Use this ico to lik two or more layers together so that they ca be maipulated as oe layer. See Chapter 2 for more details. Add a Layer Style ico: As its ame suggests, this ico lets you add styles to layers. Layer styles allow you to add effects such as drop shadows ad bevelig. Layer styles are covered i detail i Chapter 10. Add Layer Mask ico: Use this ico to create a layer mask for the curret layer. See Chapter 9 for more o layer masks. Create New Fill or Adjustmet Layer ico: You ca use this ico to quickly create either a fill layer (for addig a solid color, gradiet or patter fill effect to your image) or a adjustmet layer (for applyig adjustmets to other layers i your documet). Chapter 6 explores these layer types. Create a New Group ico: This ico allows you to group your layers together. For more o this topic, see Chapter 2. Create a New Layer ico: This is for creatig a ew, empty layer i your documet. Lear about the differet ways you ca make ew layers i Chapter 2. Delete Layer ico: Use this ico to remove uwated layers from your documet. This ad other ways to delete layers are covered i Chapter 2. You ca resize the Layers palette (like all palettes i Photoshop) by clickig ad draggig the resize box i the bottom right-had corer of the palette. A small palette is TIP great if you lack scree real estate, ad a big palette is hady whe you eed to look at a lot of layers at oce. If the palette really gets i the way, you ca miimize it by double-clickig the Layers tab at the top of the palette, or by clickig the little miimize ico to the left of the Close butto at the top right of the palette. Double-click the tab agai, or click the ico agai, to reope the palette. 6
Itroducig Layers 1 Layers i the documet widow The cotets of all visible layers i a documet are displayed i the documet widow. Each layer i your documet appears i the palette i the order i which it is stacked i the documet, so the foremost layer is always at the top of the list ad the backgroud layer is at the bottom. Figure 1.3 shows how layers i the Layers palette relate to their cotets i the documet widow. The Layers palette shows the layers for the curretly selected documet. If you have several documets ope at oce, you see the Layers palette chage as you flip betwee the documet widows. FIGURE 1.3 How layers appear i the Layers palette ad i the documet widow The aatomy of a layer Although there are may differet types of layers i Photoshop, all layers share the followig features (see Figure 1.4): Eye ico: This idicates whether the layer is visible i the documet or ot. Click the eye ico to hide the layer; click it agai to show the layer. Thumbail: The thumbail image shows you a small preview of the layer. It also shows you which parts of the layer are trasparet, idicated by a grid of white ad gray (by default) squares. Layer ame: This helps you idetify the layer. You ca easily chage a layer s ame by double-clickig it, the typig the ew ame. (By the way, if you double-click the layer outside the layer ame, the Layer Style dialog box appears, allowig you to create layer styles such as drop shadows. Layer styles are covered i Chapter 10.) 7
Part I Layer Basics Lock ico: This ico shows you whether the layer is ulocked (o ico), partially locked (light lock ico), or fully locked (dark lock ico). FIGURE 1.4 Each layer always has a eye ico (hidde if the layer is ivisible), a thumbail, a ame, ad, potetially, a lock ico. TIP You ca customize the look of the layer thumbails by clickig the triagle i the topright corer of the Layers palette ad the choosig Palette Optios from the pop-up meu. You ca choose from three thumbail sizes (or o thumbails at all) ad also specify whether you d like each thumbail to show just the cotets of the layer (Layer Bouds) or show the positio of the layer i the whole documet (Etire Documet). You ca also reach these optios by rightclickig ay layer thumbail i the Layers palette. Uderstadig Layer Trasparecy Just like sheets of acetate, layers i Photoshop are iheretly trasparet. This meas that the parts of a layer that have t bee paited o allow the pixels from the layers udereath to show through. You ca also make a whole layer semitrasparet by adjustig its Opacity slider (see Chapter 2 for more o layer opacity). NOTE The exceptio to the trasparecy rule (there s always a exceptio) is the special Backgroud layer, which ca t be made trasparet at all. As the ame implies, it s always at the back of the documet othig ca get behid it so it has o eed of trasparecy. More o this maverick layer i the sectio The Backgroud layer. Each pixel i a layer ca be completely trasparet, completely filled with color, or traslucet (somewhere i betwee). This is all cotrolled by a trasparecy mask associated with each layer. The trasparecy mask determies how trasparet or opaque each pixel i the layer is. TIP You ca load a layer s trasparecy mask as a selectio by Ctrl+clickig (Ô+clickig o the Mac) the layer s thumbail i the Layers palette, or by right-clickig the thumbail ad choosig Select Pixels from the pop-up meu. You ca see the trasparet areas of a layer by lookig at its thumbail image i the Layers palette the trasparet parts are show as a gray ad white checkerboard patter. Also, try Alt+clickig (Optio+clickig o the Mac) the eye ico of a layer i the Layers palette to hide all other layers; if your layer has ay trasparet parts you see them as a checkerboard patter i the documet widow, as show i Figure 1.5. (Alt/Optio+click the layer s eye ico agai to retur to ormal.) 8
Itroducig Layers 1 FIGURE 1.5 A layer o its ow i the documet widow, showig the trasparecy grid behid TIP If you fid the default checkerboard patter hard to see i a particular situatio workig with a photo of a chess board sprigs to mid you ca chage its color ad size. To do this, choose Edit Prefereces Trasparecy & Gamut (Photoshop Prefereces Trasparecy & Gamut o the Mac) or, more quickly, press Ctrl+K the Ctrl+6 (Ô+K the Ô+6 o the Mac). You ca the choose a grid size (or tur the grid off altogether) ad choose from a predefied list of grid colors (or roll your ow). May fuctios i Photoshop just work o the otrasparet areas of a layer ad leave the trasparet areas itact. Other tools, such as the paitig tools for example, will, of course, pait over the trasparet areas (uless you have the layer trasparecy locked). If you wat to make part of your layer trasparet agai, pait o it with the Eraser tool, or select the part you wat to make trasparet ad press Backspace (Delete o the Mac). TIP To fill a layer etirely with the foregroud color, press Alt+Backspace (Optio+Delete o the Mac). Wat to fill with the backgroud color istead? Just press Ctrl+Backspace (Ô+Delete o the Mac). To fill just the opaque ad traslucet areas, leavig the trasparet areas itact, either lock the layer s trasparecy first, or use the previous keyboard shortcuts with the Shift key as well. This is a super-quick way to recolor a object o a layer. Types of Layers Photoshop features a few differet types of layers ad, although all the layer types share commo groud, there are importat differeces amog them. Let s take a brief look at the differet members of Photoshop s layers family. 9
Part I Layer Basics The Backgroud layer Images created with a white or colored backgroud are created with a special layer called Backgroud (see Figure 1.6). There caot be more tha oe Backgroud layer i a documet. The Backgroud layer is always at the back of the documet (ad therefore the bottom of the Layers palette), ad it ever has ay trasparet areas. You ca t move this layer up ad dow the Layers palette, or ca you move its cotets aroud with the Move tool, or chage its bledig mode or opacity, which are permaetly locked. However, you ca delete the Backgroud layer, which makes your documet trasparet. Likewise, you ca create a ew trasparet documet, which has o Backgroud layer. You ca also hide the Backgroud layer to make your documet temporarily trasparet. CROSS-REF See Chapter 2 for more o showig ad hidig layers ad groups. By ow you re probably woderig what the poit of the Backgroud layer is, as it just seems to be a ormal layer with its hads tied behid its back. I fact, its limitatios are really its stregths: Because it s always at the back of your documet ad ca t be made trasparet, you ca always rely o it as a cavas or backstop, if you will. Without a Backgroud layer you ca ever be totally sure that some bits of your documet are t trasparet (although you d fid out soo eough if you later tried overlayig your image o top of somethig else). NOTE If you choose File Ope to ope a image that s i a format that does t support layers for example a JPEG photo the Photoshop automatically assigs the image to the Backgroud layer i the opeed documet. FIGURE 1.6 The Backgroud layer. As its ame implies, this special layer always sits i the backgroud of your image documet. Geerally, you wat a Backgroud layer i your documet uless you eed the documet to be trasparet for example, if you prit it out oto trasparecies, or you re savig out a trasparet GIF for use o the Web. CROSS-REF You ca covert betwee the Backgroud layer ad a ormal layer (ad vice versa). Fid out how to do this i Chapter 2. Normal layers The most commo layers you ecouter i Photoshop are ormal layers (see Figure 1.7). The basic job of these layers is to hold the various bitmapped images that make up your documet. The Backgroud layer described previously is essetially a ormal layer that s locked dow to the back of the documet. 10
Itroducig Layers 1 FIGURE 1.7 A ormal layer. To create a ew ormal layer, simply click the New Layer ico. Normal layer New Layer ico To create a ew ormal layer, click the New Layer ico at the bottom of the Layers palette, as show i Figure 1.7. Type layers As you might imagie, type layers (see Figure 1.8) are used specifically for storig type otherwise kow as text. They were a godsed whe first itroduced i Photoshop 5, as they allow you to edit, scale, rotate, ad geerally muck about with your type after you create the layer. The reaso they ca do this is that they store the type as vector iformatio rather tha as bitmapped images. (Versios of Photoshop before versio 5 allowed you to create type, but the type was stored as a bitmapped image, makig trasformig or editig after the fact practically impossible.) FIGURE 1.8 A type layer. To make a ew type layer, use the Type tool. Type tool Type layer 11
Part I Layer Basics Comparig Bitmaps ad Vectors Abitmapped (or raster) image is a image made up of pixels for example, a JPEG photo from a digital camera or a GIF image i a Web page. Bitmapped images are great for storig real-world images, such as photos, that ca t easily be mathematically defied. The mai disadvatages of bitmapped images are their large file size ad the fact that they ca t be scaled well if you elarge a bitmapped image you quickly start seeig aliasig or, to use a techical term, jaggy bits. I cotrast, a vector image is defied mathematically usig lies ad curves. It s ot made up of pixels like a bitmapped image is. This meas that vector images are resolutio-idepedet; it does t matter how big or small you scale a vector image, it ever loses detail. Vectors are great for storig images that are easily described usig lies ad curves ad that eed to stay pi sharp at ay resolutio for example, type, logos, geometric shapes, ad charts. To create a ew type layer, select the Type tool i the Toolbox as show i Figure 1.8, click i your documet widow, ad start typig. Press Ctrl+Eter (Ô+Retur o the Mac) whe you fiish typig. CROSS-REF Type layers ad the Type tool are give a thorough treatmet i Chapter 4. Shape layers You ca create shape layers (see Figure 1.9) usig the Pe ad Shape tools by eablig the Shape Layers optio i the tool s optios bar. Although they re described as a distict type of layer i Photoshop, a shape layer is really just a fill layer i disguise (see the ext sectio) with a liked vector mask. The fill layer gives the shape its color, gradiet, or patter, ad the vector mask gives the shape its, well, shape. Because vectors are used to describe the shape, shape layers ca be scaled, rotated, ad otherwise maipulated with o loss of detail. To create a ew shape layer, select a pe tool or a shape tool, as show i Figure 1.9, make sure Shape Layers is selected i the tool s optios bar; the draw i the documet widow. CROSS-REF For more o shape layers see Chapter 5. 12
Itroducig Layers 1 FIGURE 1.9 A shape layer. Create ew shape layers usig the Pe or Shape tools. Pe tool Custom Shape tool Shape layer Fill layers Fill layers (show i Figure 1.10) hold a solid color, a gradiet, or a patter. The basic fill always fills the whole cavas area, so fill layers really come ito their ow whe you use them with a liked layer mask. By drawig o the mask with, for example, the Brush or Pe tool, you ca defie which areas of your documet are filled ad which are masked off from the fill. I fact, whe you first create a fill layer it comes complete with its ow liked (bitmap) layer mask that you ca use to defie the shape of your fill. Similarly, whe you create a ew shape layer (see the sectio o shape layers) the created fill layer ships with a liked vector mask defiig the shape. FIGURE 1.10 A fill layer. Click the New Fill or Adjustmet Layer ico to create ew fill layers. Fill layer New Fill or Adjustmet Layer ico 13
Part I Layer Basics To create a ew fill layer, click the New Fill or Adjustmet Layer ico at the bottom of the Layers palette (see Figure 1.10) ad choose Solid Color, Gradiet, or Patter. CROSS-REF Lear about fill layers i Chapter 6. Adjustmet layers Adjustmet layers (show i Figure 1.11) are fairly uique i that they work by affectig the layers below them, rather tha holdig image iformatio themselves. (If you add a adjustmet layer to a documet cotaiig o other layers, you wo t see aythig happe i the documet.) The woderful thig about adjustmet layers is that you ca happily adjust aspects of your image such as levels, color balace, brightess, ad cotrast without permaetly affectig the actual pixels of the image. This is ofte called odestructive editig. For example, if you really tur up the brightess of your photo by choosig Image Adjustmets Brightess/Cotrast, the try lowerig the brightess later, you ll see that your image has lost a lot of cotrast the Brightess/Cotrast adjustmet has permaetly altered the pixels ad some of the image iformatio has bee lost. However, if you create a ew Brightess/Cotrast adjustmet layer, you ca happily chage the brightess as much as you wat at ay time without affectig the uderlyig image. This makes adjustmet layers great for tryig out adjustmets that you might wat to tweak later o. FIGURE 1.11 A adjustmet layer. Create ew adjustmet layers with the New Fill or Adjustmet Layer ico. Adjustmet layer New Fill or Adjustmet Layer ico 14 To create a ew adjustmet layer, first click the New Fill or Adjustmet Layer ico at the bottom of the Layers palette, as show i Figure 1.11, ad the choose ay optio apart from Solid Color, Gradiet, or Patter. Figure 1.12 shows all the previous layer types i actio i a documet, with a cute kitte throw i for good measure. See if you ca guess what the job of each layer is i the documet.
Itroducig Layers 1 FIGURE 1.12 Differet types of layers i actio. Notice how the layers stack together ad iteract with each other to produce the fiished image. Usig Layers i Photoshop As you might have gathered by ow, layers are a extremely hady feature i Photoshop. Here are just some of the feats you ca achieve with layers: You ca create as may ew layers as you wat i your documet. The umber of layers i your documet is limited oly by the memory available to Photoshop. Be careful though, because each layer adds to the file size of your Photoshop documet; if you re ot careful you ca ed up with very large files. (For more o creatig ew layers, see Chapter 2.) Select oe or more layers i your documet, ad you ca work o just the selected layer or layers. You ca select layers usig the Layers palette or directly i the documet widow. (To fid out more about selectig layers, see Chapter 2.) You ca make copies of layers, both i the same documet ad betwee documets. You ca move the cotets of a layer aroud the documet widow, either idepedetly or i tadem with other layers, ad you ca alig or distribute differet layers i your documets. You ca chage the stackig order of layers i your documet; you ca lock aspects of layers to prevet them beig accidetally altered; ad, of course, you ca delete layers that you o loger eed. (To lear ay of these techiques, see Chapter 2.) If you wat, you ca lik layers together so that they ca be maipulated as a sigle layer. You ca also group layers together to help orgaize documets with lots of layers; hide selected layers ad groups to try out differet desigs; ad color-code layers ad groups for easy access great if you have several layers or groups related to a particular part of your documet. (All of these features are described i Chapter 2.) 15
Part I Layer Basics Usig bledig modes, you ca cotrol how a layer bleds with the layers below it to create all sorts of iterestig effects ad ehacemets. (For more iformatio o bledig modes, see Chapter 7.) You ca mask off areas of your layer so that oly some areas are visible. You ca also use masks with adjustmet layers to apply the adjustmets to selected parts of your image. (For more iformatio o masks, see Chapter 9. Adjustmet layers are covered i Chapter 6.) A layer ca be used to mask the cotets of aother layer or layers above it, allowig you to achieve all sorts of creative effects. (For more o this, see Chapter 9.) You ca add may artistic effects to a layer usig layer styles. Eve better, you ca go back ad tweak these effects at ay time without touchig the cotets of the layer itself. (For more o layer styles, see Chapter 10.) As metioed previously, addig text to your documets is easy with Photoshop s Type tool. This tool creates special type layers that ca be edited, trasformed, ad geerally mucked about with log after they are created. (The Type tool is covered i depth i Chapter 4.) Photoshop lets you take several sapshots of your documet s layers, icludig their visibility, positio ad appearace, ad flip betwee them istatly, great for tryig out differet desigs ad arragemets of layers. (For more iformatio, see Chapter 11.) New Layer Features i Photoshop CS3 With the lauch of Photoshop CS3, Adobe has added a wealth of useful ew features to the mix, makig it a worthy successor to CS2. This sectio cocetrates o the ew, flexible user iterface i CS3, as well as the ew layer-related features that Adobe has icluded i CS3. The ew iterface Oe of the major chages i CS3 is the itroductio of a ew user iterface. Not oly does it give Photoshop a ew, revamped look, but it also chages the way you work with the software, thaks to its ew workspace features. Maximized Scree Mode, for example, creates a workspace where your documet widow automatically resizes, depedig o the layout of the palettes, to fill the maximum space possible. You ca choose this optio from the Toolbox usig the Chage Scree Mode butto at the bottom. Figure 1.13 shows Maximized Scree Mode i actio. As well as groupig palettes together i palette groups, as you could i CS2, you ca ow also group palettes ad palette groups ito bigger docks. These docks ca be cotracted whe they re ot i use, with the palettes ad palette groups iside turig ito cute icos, as you ca see i Figure 1.13. It s a hady feature that helps you to maximize your scree real estate. 16
Itroducig Layers 1 FIGURE 1.13 The ew iterface i Maximized Scree Mode, with the palette docks expaded (top) ad collapsed to icos (bottom). Note that the documet widow you re workig o resizes with the palettes, so that it always fills the available space. 17
Part I Layer Basics There are also chages to the Toolbox, which ca ow be preseted as a sigle-colum view. This may give seasoed Photoshop users a twige of fear, because the ew layout ca feel a little odd i compariso to the old style two-colum versio. Do t paic, though; with a sigle click o the small arrows at the top of the Toolbox you ca brig back the familiar two-colum view. I fact, if you fid you really ca t get alog with the ew iterface at all, you ca flip over to a legacy versio that mimics the old CS2 iterface, by choosig Widow Workspace Legacy. Smart Filters Photoshop CS2 itroduced the cocept of Smart Objects special layers that allow you to resize, rotate, ad warp bitmap images odestructively. I CS3, this fuctioality is expaded with the additio of Smart Filters. This feature allows you to add live filters to a Smart Object odestructively. The Smart Filters also have their ow mask, so that you ca apply the filters selectively to the Smart Object. I practice this meas that you ca apply a Radial Blur filter to a Smart Object, for example, ad the reedit or remove that blur later o i the process if you chage your mid. Figure 1.14 shows a Smart Object with such a Smart Filter applied. This is a major leap forward for Photoshop ad brigs it more ito lie with the odestructive tedecies of may major applicatios i the graphics world, as well as the audio/visual world. New photo-editig applicatios such as Adobe s Lightroom ad Apple s Aperture, for example, allow for odestructive editig. NOTE This odestructive feature of Smart Objects is great for ormal bitmap layers: Simply add your ormal layer to a Smart Object, ad you ca trasform the Smart Object over ad over agai without progressively degradig the image. However, ay trasform you make still results i some loss of quality; for example, scalig a bitmap by 1000 percet is likely to produce a fairly blocky result, eve if it s withi a Smart Object. This is a fudametal issue with bitmaps ad is oe reaso why vector type ad shape layers are a attractive alterative. CROSS-REF Smart Objects ad Smart Filters are covered i detail i Chapter 8. FIGURE 1.14 Applyig a odestructive Radial Blur to a Smart Object, usig the ew Smart Filters feature of Photoshop CS3 18
Itroducig Layers 1 New adjustmet layers I Photoshop CS3, there are two very welcome ew adjustmet layers, both aimed squarely at photographers: Black ad White, ad Exposure. The Black ad White adjustmet layer provides a ew way to covert color photos to black ad white. Traditioally this has bee a somewhat fraught task ivolvig much voodoo usig the Chael Mixer, or through Lab color coversios. With this adjustmet layer, you ca also add a tit to the image at the same time, which is great for those images requirig a sepia tit, for example. You ca see this adjustmet layer i actio i Figure 1.15. Note that this adjustmet is also available i destructive form uder Image Adjustmets. CROSS-REF I Chapter 15, you see how may of the traditioal black-ad-white coversio techiques stack up agaist this great ew feature. FIGURE 1.15 Covertig a image to black ad white usig the ew Black ad White adjustmet layer The Exposure adjustmet layer, show i Figure 1.16, allows you to mimic the effect of icreasig the exposure settig i-camera. If you have a woefully uderexposed image, there s a good chace you ca save it usig this feature. It really is great for ehacig those slightly lackluster photos. Ad of course, because adjustmet layers have their ow masks, you ca choose to icrease the exposure just o selected areas of the image. While the destructive Exposure adjustmet foud uder the Image Adjustmets NEW FEATURE meu has existed i previous versios of Photoshop, this is the first time that you ve bee able to apply Exposure odestructively as a adjustmet layer. 19
Part I Layer Basics FIGURE 1.16 Icreasig the exposure of a photo with the ew Exposure adjustmet layer Auto-Alig Layers ad Auto-Bled Layers Imagie you have two or more images that you wat to merge ito oe. This might be a double exposure of a ladscape, a paorama, or a photo of the same eviromet with differet people i it, for example. Photoshop CS3 itroduces two great ew commads Auto-Alig Layers ad Auto-Bled Layers that ca help you eormously with this mergig process. These two commads are both available from the Edit meu. The Auto-Alig Layers commad, whose dialog box is show i Figure 1.17, automatically aligs images o separate layers by subtly distortig each image so that they lie up as precisely as possible. You ca the use masks to reveal the elemets from each layer that make up the fial image. Because Photoshop is doig the aligmet work, a small movemet i perspective whe takig the origial photos is less importat. I other words, if you re stuck without a tripod, it s o loger ecessarily the ed of the world! The Auto-Bled Layers commad works i cojuctio with Auto-Alig Layers whe creatig paoramic shots. Whe you apply it to a ewly aliged set of layers i a paoramic format, this feature creates a ew layer mask for each layer ad applies its best guess for bledig the photos to each mask, softeig sharp edges created by auto-aligig the layers. It also compesates for ay exposure differeces whe the idividual photos were shot by chagig the colors withi each layer, smoothig out the differeces betwee warmer ad cooler images. 20
Itroducig Layers 1 FIGURE 1.17 The Auto-Alig Layers dialog box. This commad automatically aligs two or more layers by subtly distortig each layer. The results for the Auto-alig ad Auto-bled combiatio are very good, ad are also ow itegrated ito the Photomerge feature used for stitchig paoramic shots. I CS2, the results of the Photomerge feature created layers with o masks, but i CS3 the feature creates idividual layers with masks, resultig i a much faster workflow ad more cotrol over the ed result. CROSS-REF Both of these ew features are explored i depth i Chapter 15. Puttig Theory ito Practice Now that the basics of layers i Photoshop have bee covered, we ca begi with a practical example. I this short tutorial, it is assumed that you re lucky eough to ow a yacht ad that you wat to ivite some frieds to sail it with you. You re goig to produce a simple ivitatio, with a photo of your boat ad some text with relevat iformatio. Obviously, you wo t have this yacht photo yourself. No problem; for the sake of this NOTE tutorial, ay photo will do. Ideally it should be i portrait format ad at least A6 size (4 x 6 iches) at 300 dpi. A photo take with a moder digital camera should be fie. 21
Part I Layer Basics Creatig a ew documet The first step to desigig your ivitatio is to create a ew Photoshop documet. Choose File New or press Ctrl+N (Ô+N o the Mac). The New dialog box appears. You wat to create a A6 ivitatio, which is 105 x 148 mm, at 300 dpi. To do this, choose Iteratioal Paper for the Preset optio; the choose A6 for the Size optio. Make sure Resolutio is set to 300 pixels/ich. Stick with the default RGB color mode for this example. Choose a white backgroud, give the documet a ame, ad click OK to create the documet, as show i Figure 1.18. FIGURE 1.18 Creatig the ew ivitatio documet A documet widow appears for your ew documet it s the right size ad it has a white Backgroud layer, ready for you to start addig your layers. Addig the photo The ext step is to ope the photo ad add it to your ivitatio. Choose File Ope, or press Ctrl+O (Ô+O o the Mac) ad choose a suitable photo from your photo library. Your photo opes i a ew documet widow. Now, add the photo to the ivitatio. Make sure the documet widow cotaiig the photo is selected ad look at the Layers palette (choose Widow Layers or press F7 if you ca t see the palette). You should see a sigle layer, called Backgroud, with a little thumbail image of your photo (see Figure 1.19). This is the layer that cotais the photo you just opeed. 22
Itroducig Layers 1 FIGURE 1.19 The photo layer i the Layers palette You re ow goig to copy this layer ito your ivitatio documet. To do this, click the layer i the Layers palette, ad while holdig dow the Shift key, drag the layer to the ivitatio documet as show i Figure 1.20, ad release the mouse butto. After a short pause your photo appears i the ivitatio documet. NOTE Holdig dow Shift while draggig the layer automatically ceters the photo i the ivitatio documet. FIGURE 1.20 Draggig the photo layer across to the ivitatio documet 23
Part I Layer Basics Look at the Layers palette for the ivitatio documet (if the ivitatio documet is t selected, select it first), ad you see that the photo has bee added to the documet as a ew layer, as show i Figure 1.21. You ow have two layers i your ivitatio: the origial white Backgroud layer, ad the ew photo layer. Give your photo layer a ame so it s easier to idetify. Double-click the ame of the layer this is probably Layer 1 ad type Yacht (or whatever you wat to call your photo); the press Eter (Retur o the Mac). FIGURE 1.21 The photo i the ivitatio documet ad its layer i the Layers palette Creatig a box for the text Add a white box to the ivitatio that you ca place the text i. To do this, follow these steps: 1. Select the Yacht layer by clickig it i the Layers palette. This step esures that your ew box layer is created above the Yacht layer. 2. Click the Shape Tool ico ad hold dow the mouse butto. (The Shape tool ico sits below the Type Tool ico i the Toolbox.) After a secod, a pop-up meu appears, with a list of differet shape tools. 3. Click the Rectagle Tool ico. The Shape tool ico chages to a rectagle. 4. Click the Default Foregroud ad Backgroud Colors ico i the Toolbox (or press D). This resets your foregroud ad backgroud colors to their defaults of black ad white respectively. 24
Itroducig Layers 1 5. Now click the Switch Foregroud ad Backgroud Colors ico (or press X). You should ow have a foregroud color of white ad a backgroud color of black showig i the Toolbox. The Rectagle tool uses the foregroud color as the fill color of the box, so your box is created with a white fill. 6. Make sure the Shape Layers optio is selected i the Optios bar. 7. Create the box. Click somewhere ear the top-left corer of the ivitatio documet ad drag dow ad to the right, the release the mouse butto to create the box (see Figure 1.22). FIGURE 1.22 Creatig the white box shape Notice that you ve created a ew shape layer i the documet. Click the shape layer s ame i the Layers palette to edit it, type Box, ad press Eter (Retur o the Mac). Addig the text Now, add some text i the white box. Use a text color take from the photo. Click the Eyedropper tool i the Toolbox (or press I); the click a area of your photo that you wat to use for your text color (see Figure 1.23). I the figure, a blue color is selected from the sky i the photo. The color of the pixel that you click becomes the ew foregroud color. Next, make sure the Box layer is selected by clickig it i the Layers palette. This esures that the type layer is created above the Box layer. 25
Part I Layer Basics FIGURE 1.23 Pickig a color from the photo CAUTION Esure that the Box layer s vector mask is ot active, or the type will be achored to the vector mask. To do this, look at the vector mask thumbail for the Box layer (the little rectagle just to the left of the layer ame). If the thumbail has a highlight border aroud it, click i the thumbail to remove the highlight ad deselect the mask. Click the Type Tool ico i the Toolbox ad hold the mouse butto dow. From the pop-up meu, select the Horizotal Type Tool optio. Choose a appropriate fot ad style for your text. I the Type tool s optios bar (see Figure 1.24) choose a simple sas serif fot such as Arial or Helvetica, select a Regular fot style, ad choose a appropriate size for the type (18 poits or 72 pixels should do it). TIP Whe creatig type, you ca choose betwee poits ad pixels (ad millimeters, too) by choosig Edit Prefereces Uits & Rulers (Photoshop Prefereces Uits ad Rulers o the Mac) ad pickig a uit from the Type pop-up meu. FIGURE 1.24 Choosig type optios 26
Itroducig Layers 1 Click i the documet widow ear the top-left corer of your white box ad type Come sail with me!. Press Eter (Retur o the Mac) a couple of times to move the cursor dow toward the bottom of the box. Choose a smaller type size i the optios bar (for example, 10 poits or 48 pixels). Type the ext lie, 23rd April, ad press Eter (Retur). Repeat for the last two lies, 9am at The Maria ad Brig a coat!. Whe you ve typed all your text, press Ctrl+Eter (Ô+Retur o the Mac) to exit the text etry mode. You ow have a fourth layer i your documet: a type layer. Photoshop uses the text you typed as the ame of the layer; however, you ca chage this if you wat by double-clickig the layer ame, typig a ew ame ad pressig Eter (Retur o the Mac). Cogratulatios you ve created your ivitatio! It probably looks somethig like Figure 1.25. FIGURE 1.25 The fiished ivitatio Playig with the layers Your ivitatio desig is made up of four separate layers. From bottom to top i the Layers palette, they are: The white Backgroud layer A ormal layer cotaiig your photo A shape layer cotaiig your white box A type layer cotaiig the text iside the white box 27
Part I Layer Basics Try playig with the differet layers. For example, click the Move tool i the Toolbox (or press V), select oe of the layers, the click i the documet widow ad drag with the mouse. Notice how the layer moves aroud idepedetly of the other three layers. Notice also how you ca t move the cotet of the Backgroud layer. CROSS-REF If you do ever eed to move the cotet of the Backgroud layer, covert it to a ormal layer first. Fid out how to do this i Chapter 2. Click a layer i the Layers palette ad drag it up or dow to a differet positio i the palette. Notice how chagig the stackig order of the layers i the Layers palette affects how the layers appear i the documet widow. For example, if you drag the type layer below the Box layer i the Layers palette, the type is the obscured by the white box. Ctrl+click (Ô+click o the Mac) the type ad Box layers to select both of them, the click the Lik Layers ico at the bottom of the Layers palette. The two layers are ow liked. Try movig oe of the layers usig the Move tool. Notice how the other layer moves with it. To ulik the layers, select oe of the layers i the Layers palette ad click the Lik Layers ico agai. CROSS-REF Lear all about likig layers i Chapter 2. Maybe that white box is a bit too big or small? No problem it s a shape layer so you ca resize is as much as you wat without losig ay quality. Select the Box layer i the Layers palette the choose Edit Trasform, or press Ctrl+T (Ô+T o the Mac). Click a trasform hadle at a corer or edge of the white box i the documet widow; the drag with the mouse to resize the box. Press Eter (Retur o the Mac) whe you re happy with the ew size. CROSS-REF For more o the woders of shape layers, see Chapter 5. This example project gives you a small taste of layers i Photoshop. You ve looked at creatig ormal layers, shape layers ad type layers, leared how layers work together to form the fiished documet, ad see how layers ca be maipulated idepedetly of each other. Summary This chapter itroduced you to layers i Photoshop: what they are ad why they re such useful beasts. You leared how to get aroud i the Layers palette, ad you also leared what layer trasparecy is ad how it works. The differet types of layers available i Photoshop have bee touched o, from ormal layers through to type layers, shape layers, adjustmet layers, ad fill layers, as well as the special Backgroud layer. You ve looked at just a few of the thigs you ca do with layers, ad fiished with a simple example to help you get to grips with the cocepts that were itroduced. The remaiig chapters of this book cover the fier poits of workig with layers i Photoshop. 28