PHOTOSHOP CS4 QuickSteps- P8 potx

Perform one of these options: • Drag the layer to the Create A New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel.. LINK LAYERS To link another layer to the currently selected layer, selec

COPY AN EXISTING LAYER

You also can create a new layer by copying an existing layer In the Layers panel, click the source layer The cursor changes to a fist Perform one of these options:

• Drag the layer to the Create A New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel.

• Click Layer | New | Layer Via Copy.

• Press CTRL / CMD + J

Photoshop creates a new layer that is an exact copy of the original The new layer appears immediately above the source layer in the Layers panel.

CREATE A NEW LAYER FROM A SELECTION

You can create a new layer by copying only the selected portions of an existing layer This is a useful way to separate a selected element or elements from the background while leaving your original image intact.

1 Use any of the selection tools to select the portions of a layer that you want to copy

2 Click Layer | New | Layer Via Copy.

–Or–

Press CTRL / CMD + J

Edit with Layers

You can add as many layers to a document as needed (as the amount of system RAM and scratch disk space you’ve allocated

to Photoshop allows) Some commands, such as painting, can only be made to one layer at a time Other adjustments, such

as moving, applying styles, or transforming, can be made

to multiple layers at a time To identify which layers will be included in an edit, select layers, link, or group them Here is how you can manipulate the layers, make the background layer editable, and add additional layers as needed.

NOTE

If a selection is active, the Layer Via Copy command

(CTRL / CMD+J) copies the selected portions to a new

layer If there is no selection, then the command copies

the entire layer

LINKING AND UNLINKING LAYERS

Layers that are linked move, rotate, and transform

together If you move the contents of a layer 50 pixels

to the left, the contents of all layers linked to that layer

will also move 50 pixels to the left You can also link

groups of layers Linked layers can be unlinked, unlinked

temporarily, and then relinked as needed to edit or view

the effects

LINK LAYERS

To link another layer to the currently selected layer, select

the layers you want to link; this is done by holding SHIFT

as you click neighboring

layer titles on the Layers

panel, or by holding CTRL /

CMD to select noncontiguous

layers Then click the Link

Layers icon at the bottom

of the Layers panel A chain

icon appears to the right of

each layer’s name

UNLINK LAYERS

Select a linked layer and then click the Link Layers

icon at the bottom of the Layers panel The chain icon

disappears

Another type of link between selection and style

Click here to link or unlink selected layers

Shows these two layers are linked

UNLOCK THE BACKGROUND LAYER

The background layer in a Photoshop document is initially locked You cannot erase it (other than painting over it with a background color) You cannot move, rotate, or resize it as you would a document layer (there are commands to rotate and scale a background that can be found in the Image menu); nor can you create a mask for it To make these kinds of changes on the background, you must first turn it into a normal layer:

• Click Layer | New | Layer From Background The background becomes a normal

layer

–Or–

• Double-click the background layer thumbnail on the Layers panel, and then respond to the New Layer dialog box

COPY MERGED LAYERS

You might want to copy a merged version of a layered document—a version that looks the same but does not contain multiple layers—to the Clipboard

Remember that the size of image files may cause this to be an unwise way of copying your images.

1 Select the entire document by clicking Select | All or by pressing CTRL / CMD + A

2 Click Edit | Copy Merged or press SHIFT + CTRL / CMD + C All layers in the document are copied to the Clipboard as a single layer

When you copy the contents of the Clipboard to a new document, the contents appear as a new layer made up of all layers from the parent document

(see Figure 6-2 and Figure 6-3) If the original layers had transparency, the transparent regions that did not overlap any opaque areas on other layers will still be transparent.

NOTE

The background layer is fixed to the bottom of the stack

and cannot be moved unless you rename it or convert

it to a new layer You will want to do this to have more

flexibility in what you can do to the image Once you have

converted a background layer to a normal layer, you can

convert it back to a background layer by clicking Layer

| New | Background From Layer You cannot create a

background layer simply by renaming it “Background.”

TIP

Double-click the background layer lock icon to create a

layer from the background

NOTE

Any time you paste something into a Photoshop

document, it goes on a new layer located immediately

above the currently selected layer

Figure 6-3: Copying the merged layers into a new document results in a

single layer.

COPY FROM ANOTHER APPLICATION

TO A NEW LAYER

To copy an item from another application (for example, Microsoft Internet Explorer) to a Photoshop document:

1 Open an image in Photoshop

2 Switch to another application, such as a web browser, and select and copy an image

3 Return to Photoshop and click Edit | Paste The new image is

pasted into the Photoshop document on a new layer CTRL / CMD + V

is the keyboard shortcut

If you need to copy text as editable text into Photoshop, click the Type tool on the Tools panel before pasting Click

an insertion point in your document, and then press CTRL/

CMD+V Reformatting your text is usually necessary, but this beats retyping a paragraph of text If you choose to paste using a tool other than the Type tool, a new layer is created, but the pasted text is a bitmap, and not editable text.

The system clipboard typically doesn’t handle transparency between applications Usually, if you copy an image containing transparent regions and try to paste it into a Photoshop document, you’ll get a black area instead of the original image transparency You can copy and paste to new layers within Photoshop because Photoshop uses an internal clipboard, not your system’s clipboard.

COPY A LAYER BY DRAGGING

You can drag layers directly from one Photoshop document

to another To copy a layer from one Photoshop document

to another:

1 Open two images in Photoshop with the Layers panel open

2 Click Window | Arrange | Tile to display both images at once.

Figure 6-2: Before using the Copy Merged command, the document is

composed of many layers.

3 Make sure the source document is selected If it is not, you can just click its title bar

4 Click the desired layer title on the Layers panel and drag it into the destination document It will be added to the second document as a new layer

Press and hold SHIFT as you drag a layer from one document to a different document window to make it centered in the receiving document.

REARRANGE LAYER ORDER

The order of layers in the Layers panel usually determines the final result, as shown in Figures 6-4 and 6-5.

To change the order of layers:

1 Click a layer title on the Layers panel

2 Drag the layer up or down to a new position

The original background layer is locked and therefore cannot be moved.

NOTE

You cannot copy a layer to a background layer You must

first convert the background layer to a regular layer

Figure 6-4: The image of the “bear” is partially obscured by the other layers when it is not the top layer.

TIP

Before making changes, copy your work to a new layer

Make changes on the new layer, and if you don’t like

them, delete the layer

DELETE A LAYER

To delete a layer:

1 Click a layer’s thumbnail in the Layers panel

2 Drag the layer to the Delete Layer button at the bottom of the panel.

–Or–

1 Right-click the layer’s name in the Layers panel, and click Delete Layer.

2 Photoshop asks you to confirm the deletion Click Yes.

Consolidate Layers into Layer Groups

Layers can be grouped together into folders called layer groups Layer groups

help you keep multilayer documents organized You can group parts of an image together so that they work as a single component of the image

MANIPULATING LAYER GROUPS

MOVE THE CONTENTS OF A LAYER GROUP

1 Select the Move tool from the Tools panel.

2 Click a layer group in the Layers panel

3 Drag the image to move the entire layer group

RESIZE A LAYER GROUP

1 In the Layers panel, click the layer group you want

to resize

2 Press CTRL / CMD + T to enter Free Transform mode,

or click Edit | Free Transform.

3 Drag the handles to resize all layers in the layer

group at once Press and hold SHIFT while you drag

to constrain the resizing to proportional resizing

4 Press ENTER / RETURN , click Commit (the check

button on the Options bar), or double-click the image to accept the changes

DELETE A LAYER GROUP

1 Click a layer group thumbnail in the Layers panel

2 Drag the layer group to the Delete Layer button at

the bottom of the panel

–Or–

Continued

Figure 6-5: When the “bear” layer is moved, it appears as the top layer,

no longer obscured by the others.

With ambitious and complex compositions, you may have several groups

Although you cannot paint on a layer group, in most other ways, they act the same as individual layers You can reposition, resize, mask, and hide all layers

in a layer group at the same time.

Create a Layer Group

When you create a new layer group, you first create a blank folder into which you can drag other layers in the document Creating layer groups when working with a multilayer document makes it easier for you to work within the Layers panel, since you can collapse any layer groups you are not currently editing to eliminate clutter and confusion in the Layers panel.

To create a new layer group:

• Click the Create A New Group icon at the bottom of the Layers panel.

–Or–

• Click Layer | Group Layers.

MOVE A LAYER INTO A LAYER GROUP

To move a layer into a layer group:

1 In the Layers panel, click an existing layer

2 Drag it to the desired layer group

TIP

Rename a duplicated layer group to reflect the duplicated

group’s intended purpose

CAUTION

You may need to relocate your layer group to a different

place in the stack in order to maintain the intended image

effect

MANIPULATING LAYER GROUPS

(Continued)

1 Right-click the layer group’s name in the Layers

panel, and click Delete Group.

2 Photoshop asks you to confirm the deletion You

can choose between deleting both the group layer

and its contents or only the group layer Click

Group And Contents or click Group Only.

DUPLICATE A LAYER GROUP

1 Click a layer group thumbnail in the Layers panel

2 Drag the layer group to the Create A New Layer

button at the bottom of the panel Photoshop

creates a duplicate of the layer group and

appends the layer group name with “Copy.”

–Or–

Right-click the layer group’s name in the Layers

REMOVE A LAYER FROM A LAYER GROUP

To remove a layer from a layer group:

1 In the Layers panel, within the layer group, click the layer that you want to remove

2 Drag it to a position outside of the layer group

Merge Layers

When you are finished editing several layers in a document, you can select them and then merge them into a single layer When you merge selected layers, the other layers in the document are still editable You can apply edits to the layer created by merging other layers You can also select other layers in the document and merge them.

Merge a Layer with the Layer Beneath It

When you have edited two layers to your liking, you can select a layer and merge it with the underlying layer This creates a new layer, which can be further edited.

1 In the Layers panel, select the topmost layer of the two layers you want to merge

2 Click the Options button in the upper-right area of the Layers panel, and click Merge Layers from the flyout menu.

–Or–

Press CTRL / CMD + E

Merge Linked Layers

To merge all linked layers into a single layer:

1 In the Layers panel, click one of the linked layers to select it

2 Click Layer | Select Linked Layers.

3 Click Layer | Merge Layers.

–Or–

FLATTENING AN IMAGE

When you flatten an image, you condense all layers in

the document into a single layer As a result, you can no

longer edit the layers you created Flattening an image

is generally the last step prior to saving an image in

a file format other than PSD for clients who don’t own

Photoshop or don’t need editable layers in their work If

you intend to edit the image further in another session,

do not flatten it Save the document as a Photoshop

(PSD) document Doing so preserves all layers in the

document for further editing

To flatten all layers into a single layer:

• Click Layer | Flatten Image.

–Or–

1 In the Layers panel, click the Options button The

Options menu appears

2 Click Flatten Image.

TIP

If you want to work on a composition later, but need to

send a copy of your work to someone, it’s often a good

technique to save your work as a PSD file, then click

File | Save As, choose the file format you need in the

Save As dialog box, choose a location for the copy, then

click Save You’ll see that the As A Copy check box is

automatically checked and a little caution icon appears at

the bottom of the dialog box, telling you that the file format

you chose necessitates that special Photoshop-specific

features such as layers won’t be saved Your work is

auto-flattened to conform to the new file format’s structure

1 Click the Options button in the upper-right area of the Layers panel The panel

Options menu appears

2 Click Select Linked Layers.

3 Right-click the selected layers and click Merge Layers.

Merge Visible Layers

To merge visible layers into a single layer, you first must hide the layers you don’t want to merge:

1 In the Layers panel, click the eye icon for all layers you want to hide, or do not want

to merge

2 Click a visible layer to select it

3 Click the Options button in the upper-right area of the

Layers panel The panel Options menu appears

4 Click Merge Visible.

–Or–

Press CTRL / CMD + SHIFT + E –Or–

Right-click a layer title to access the merge commands from the context menu

Work with Layer Masks

When working with layers, you may find that you want only part of a layer to show, or perhaps a layer to show only faintly in the background In this case,

you can use layer masks A layer mask hides, or masks, part of a layer Layer

masks are by default black, white, and shades of black Where the layer mask is black, the masked layer is not visible If the mask is a shade of black (gray), the underlying mask is partially visible If the mask is white, the layer is completely visible You can add or subtract from a layer’s visibility by painting on the mask with shades of gray to partially reveal areas on underlying layers, or with black

to completely reveal areas of the underlying layer.

CHECKING FILE SIZE

The file size for your image depends on the image

size—specifically the number of pixels it contains If you

have many layers, depending on the number of pixels

in each layer, your file size can become quite large You

may find that you need to reduce your file size to make

editing easier, to make web page loading faster, or to

reduce disk space

To check your file size:

1 On the Status bar, click the right-pointing

arrow in the lower-left corner of the

document window A context menu will

display

2 Click Show for a submenu.

3 Click Document Sizes.

The Doc Size will be displayed It contains two numbers:

the size on the left is the size of the flattened image; on the

right is the size of the file with all its layers and channels

NOTE

The Merge Layers command will not be available if the

bottom layer is a text or shape layer

TIP

Mask, don’t erase When you erase a pixel, it’s gone

forever; but you can always change a mask if you

change your mind later—nothing is ever lost

Masks come in two types in Photoshop, but their use is the same:

• Bitmap masks Created with paint tools such as the Brush tool, and also by creating

selections you then fill with foreground color

• Vector masks Created using the Pen tools They produce crisp edges (so feathering

is best done using bitmap masks) and can be edited and moved using the selection tools on the Tools panel

Create Layer Masks

You can create a layer mask from an image, from a Quick Mask, or from a selection Figure 6-7 shows an example of a layer mask that shows part of the image as a background and hides part of it.

Figure 6-6: The Masks panel provides controls for working with your layer masks.

TIP

To move the masked layer slightly, with the Move tool

selected, press ARROW to move the mask one pixel To

move it ten pixels, press SHIFT + ARROW

CAUTION

A layer mask is by default linked in its position to the

contents of a layer, so when you move a mask, you move

the contents of the layer as well, which might not be what

you have in mind To move a mask but keep the layer

contents in the same position, click the link icon between

the layer thumbnail and the mask; the icon disappears

(disabling the link) and you can then move the mask,

revealing different areas of the layer Make certain before

you move the mask that the layer mask is highlighted

on the Layers panel list and not the layer thumbnail You

can link the mask once more by clicking the vacant area

between the mask and the layer thumbnail

USING THE MASKS PANEL

The Masks panel helps you to refine your layer mask You

display the panel by clicking Window | Masks With it you

can create a pixel or vector mask by clicking the appropriate

button, as shown in Figure 6-6 You can also set the density

of the mask, soften the edges of the mask with feathering,

refine the mask edges, and do other editing

Indicates active mask

Click to create a pixel mask for a bitmap image

Click to create a vector mask for a vector image

Drag to control the opacity of the mask Drag to soften the edges of the mask

Click for more options for the mask edges Create a layer mask or selection using sampled color ranges

Toggle between hide all and reveal all mask type

Toggle to hide or show the mask Click to apply

the mask

Click to load a previously saved mask

PAINT A LAYER MASK

Overall, layer masks without previous selections are created in two steps:

1 You create a mask that will either hide all or reveal all

2 You refine the mask by painting the parts you want to be seen, seen partially, or hidden

To either hide or show the whole layer, follow these steps:

1 Deselect any active selections so that none of the image is selected

2 In the Layers panel, select the layer or group to be masked

Figure 6-7: Using layer masks, you can hide, obscure parts of, or reveal all of an image, such as this one where the background sky is hidden and the cliffs are dimmed using the Opacity setting.

TIP

If the mask is not perfect, press Q to revert to Quick Mask

mode, and then paint white over the areas you do not

want to mask or black over those you do want to mask

NOTE

Be sure that the mask, not the layer, is selected when

you are working with the mask Click on the layer mask

thumbnail in the Layers panel to select the mask When

the layer mask is selected you will see a selection border

around its thumbnail, or, in the Masks panel thumbnail,

a “Pixel Mask” or “Vector Mask” notation confirms the

selection

Click the layer thumbnail

to edit the layer

Click the mask thumbnail

to edit the mask