Using the Layers Palette

Using the Layers Palette

Step one is to create a new image file and then open the Layers palette. Just choose Window Layers. The Layers palette (see Figure 11.1) is where you control your layers behaviorcreating, adding, deleting, hiding, and showing. Think of the Layers palette as "command central" for working with layers. The small versions of your images on the left of the palette are called thumbnails . Each of these small rectangles displays a separate layer. For the moment, because you have not created any new layers, you should have only one blank thumbnail in the Layers palette. That's the Background layer.

Figure 11.1. The Layers palette.

Deep Background

The difference between the Background layer and a regular layer is this: When you erase pixels on a regular layer, the erased area is transparent, and when you erase on the Background layer, the erased area is filled with the background color shown in the toolbox.

If the thumbnails are too small for your liking, choose the Palette Options command from the palette's menu (the arrow in the upper-right corner) and check out Figure 11.2.

Figure 11.2. Optional thumbnail sizes.

You can choose from three sizes or choose no thumbnail image at all. Remember that every image on your screen consumes a certain amount of the RAM available to run Photoshop. If you can get by with the smallest thumbnail, try to do so. The smaller the thumbnail, the less space the palette will take up on your desktop. This is an advantage as you begin to work with three, four, five, and more layers at a time.

Try it Yourself

Creating a New Layer

Now let's make some layers. First of all, let's put something on the Background layer, just so we'll know where it is. Follow these steps:

1.	Create a new document. Use the Elliptical Marquee to select a large circular area on the page. Fill the circular selection with a color. Press Command+D (Mac) or Control+D (Windows) to get rid of the selection marquee.
2.	Look at the thumbnail called Background. (It's the only one on the palette.) It should look something like Figure 11.3. Figure 11.3. The Background layer is your blank canvas when you open a new document. Once you put something on it, it's not blank anymore.
3.	Click the small page icon at the bottom of the Layers palette. You've just added a layer! Now your palette should look like Figure 11.4. Figure 11.4. Adding a layer.

Let's pause here for a moment and take a close look at the new layer's thumbnail. Compared to the thumbnail for the Background layer, it has a double-lined frame around it. The double frame indicates that this is the active layer. Paint all you want, but only the layer with the double frame receives the paint. Of course, the active layer's entry in the Layers palette is also highlighted.

To change the active layer, click the name of the layer to which you want to change. Figure 11.5 shows what the palette looks like after the active layer change has been made.

Figure 11.5. Changing the active layer requires a single click.

Try it Yourself

Getting Started with Layers

Let's make some layers to see how they work. Download the following files from the website: Plate , Bread , Lettuce , Tomato , and Bacon . To get to the website, point your Web browser to www.samspublishing.com and type the book's ISBN. After the main book page has loaded, click the Downloads link to get to the files. Then follow these steps:

1.	Open the files called Plate and Bread . Bring the bread image to the front, if necessary, by clicking it. Copy the bread by first clicking the crust with the Magic Wand, and then pressing the Shift key and clicking again to add the center of the slice. You might need to click more than twice to get it all. After the slice of bread is selected, press Command/Control+C to copy it. Bring the plate image to the foreground. Press Command+V (Mac) or Control+V (Windows) to paste the bread on the plate. Look at the Layers palette. You've added a new layer! Close the Bread file. (You don't want it to get stale, do you?)
2.	Open the file called Lettuce . Notice that the background is a checkerboard, indicating that it's transparent. Align the two images so that you can see both. Click the lettuce with the Move tool and drag it onto the plate. Use the Move tool to center it on the slice of bread. Notice, in Figure 11.6, that it's also on a new layer. Figure 11.6. Drag the lettuce onto the bread. It will appear as a new layer.
3.	Copy and paste the Tomato next . Now, let's add some mayo. Click the New Layer button on the Layers palette. Choose a medium brush and a nice, pale yellow mayonnaise color, and paint it on. It looks okay, but it doesn't stand out. Let's add a layer style here. (See Figure 11.7.) Under the Layer menu, choose Layer Style Bevel and Emboss. Set the Style to Inner Bevel, and the Technique to Smooth. Make the Depth 121% and the Size 5 pixels. Soften should be at 0. You can ignore the Shading area for now, or change the shading color to a deeper yellow, if you want. Figure 11.7. Applying a style to the layer.
4.	Open the Bacon file, and drag the bacon onto the sandwich. Bacon should be slightly translucent if it's not cooked crisp, so change the opacity on the Layers palette to 80%, as shown in Figure 11.8. Figure 11.8. Either use the slider to change the opacity, or double-click the Opacity field and type 80.
5.	Click the lettuce layer to activate it. Choose Layer Layer Properties and change the name of the lettuce layer from Layer 2 to Lettuce. (Theres no good reason why you should do this except to show you that you can name your layers.) Figure 11.9 shows the Layer Properties dialog box and Fig-ure 11.10 shows the completed open-faced sandwich. Figure 11.9. Naming your layers is especially helpful when you have a lot of them. Figure 11.10. You could duplicate Layer 1 and put a second slice of bread on top, but then you couldn't admire the bacon.

You can move, add to, or erase anything on the active layer, but doing so doesn't affect layers above or below it. For instance, if you make Layer 2 the active layer, you can use the Move tool to slide the bread around, but you can't move the lettuce until you make its layer active.

Reordering Layers

You also can change the order of the layers. You might want to do this if one is supposed to look as if it's on top of another, but wasn't created in that order. (New layers are always created above the current active layer.) To do so:

1.	Click the thumbnail of the active layer and hold. The active layer changes color.
2.	While holding the mouse button down, drag the layer up to the top of the stack. It then becomes the topmost layer. (Note that you can't move the Background layerby definition, it has to stay at the bottom of the stack unless you convert it to a regular layer by double-clicking it.)

If you want to move a layer up or down one level, select it and press Command+] (Mac) or Control+] (Windows) to raise it, and Command+[ (Mac) or Control+[ (Windows) to lower it. The left bracket lowers the layer's level, and the right bracket raises the layer's level. Remember: L eft to L ower, R ight to R aise.

Hiding/Showing Layers

Another great feature of layers is that when you want to concentrate on one part of your image, you can hide all the other layers. To the left of the thumbnails, you will notice small icons that resemble eyes. These indicate that a layer is visible. If you see the eye, you can see the layer. If you click the eye, however, the eye disappears, and the layer becomes hidden. In Figure 11.11, you can see that I've turned off the lettuce, but the bread, tomato, and bacon are still visible.

Figure 11.11. To make a layer visible again, click the space where the eye should appear.

Let's try it. Click the eye icons next to the bread and lettuce layers. They disappear, as will the corresponding layers in your image. Click again and the icons reappearwith the layers. While the layer is hidden, you can't paint on it or do anything with it, except drag it up or down (or use the commands detailed previously) to change its order.

Removing Layers

The simple way to remove a layer is to click to make it active and then click the small trash can button at the bottom of the palette. You can also choose Delete Layer from either the Layer menu or the Layers palette pop-up menu. When you do this, you'll see a warning dialog box asking whether it's really okay to delete the layer. If you Option+click (Mac) or Alt+click (Windows), you can skip the warning. (You can also skip the warning by dragging the layer to the palette's trash button.) Undo brings back the layer, if you have done nothing else in the meantime. If you have performed other steps, you need to use the History palette to return to a previous state.