SPEED UP PHOTOSHOP BY MERGING LAYERS

Every time you add a layer to Photoshop, it adds quite a bit of file size to your image. The larger your file size, the slower Photoshop goes. If you're creating a document that has lots of layers, before long, your file size is going to get pretty huge. One way to keep things lean and mean is to merge any layers that don't need to be separate. You do this by clicking on the topmost layer in the Layers palette, and then pressing Command-E (PC: Control-E). This merges the current layer with the layer directly beneath it. Think of it this wayevery time you merge two layers, your file size drops and Photoshop gets faster. It's like a keyboard shortcut that adds more horsepower.