Lesson 6 - Objectives 1-2 (Monday)
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Layers are one of the most powerful features of Photoshop, and it's important that you understand what they do, and how they work. Perhaps the easiest way to explain layers would be to look at how Disney animators work. An artist would paint a beautiful background in watercolor or tempera paint, and hand it off to the animators. The animator would paint the character animation on clear acetate cells (see image at right), which would be laid over the top of the background and photographed. The clear acetate layers would protect the background, and allow the animators the freedom to make changes on the cells.
Think of Photoshop layers in the same way. Each layer is separately editable, and protects any of the other layers from changes. You use layers to perform tasks such as compositing multiple images, adding text to an image, or adding vector graphic shapes. Watch the video, Layers, Got to Love them.. Photoshop has several types of layers: Background layer, text layers, shape layers, adjustment layers, smart object layers, and regular pixel layers. We will learn about each of these in detail during this course. |
Click on image for source
Video: Layers, Got to Love Them (12:14)
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The Background Layer: When you open a new file in Photoshop, it will have a single layer - the background layer. This background layer is special - different from any other layers you add. You'll notice that it has a padlock icon, meaning that this layer is locked. As mentioned in the video, Understanding Layers, there are three things you can't do with the background layer...
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Every new file or image you open in Photoshop will have a locked background layer.
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You can unlock the background layer by either clicking on the lock, double-clicking the word background and renaming the layer; or you can drag the padlock icon to the trash icon at the bottom of the layers palette. This will turn the background into a regular layer, and eliminate the three restrictions mentioned above. I unlock my background layer on every new image I create. If you ever need to change back to a background layer, you can do so in the LAYER menu -> NEW -> BACKGROUND FROM LAYER.
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A great article for Photoshop beginners
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The next section of the layers palette allows you to filter to specific kinds of layers. This is quite helpful when you have many layers, as in the image to the right. The drop down menu on the left (defaults to Kind) allows you to filter by name, layer effect, blending mode, attribute (such as visibility, clipped, etc.), color (a label you've assigned), smart object, selected, etc. The icons to the right of the drop down are explained in the image.
The next part of the Layers palette lets you control the master opacity of a layer, and its blending mode. If you hover your mouse over the word "Opacity" it will turn into a scrubby slider, allowing you to change the opacity by clicking and dragging to the left or right. A layer’s overall opacity determines to what degree it obscures or reveals the layer beneath it. A layer with 1% opacity appears nearly transparent, whereas one with 100% opacity appears completely opaque. A layer’s blending mode determines how its pixels blend with underlying pixels in the image. You can create a variety of special effects using blending modes. The next section of the Layers palette allows you to lock portions of the selected layer, as well as adjust the fill opacity. Fill opacity affects only pixels, shapes, or text on a layer without affecting the opacity of layer effects such as drop shadows. You can lock layers fully or partially to protect their contents. For instance, you may want to lock a layer fully when you finish with it. You may want to lock a layer partially if it has the correct transparency and styles, but you are still deciding on positioning. When a layer is locked, a lock icon appears to the right of the layer name. The lock icon is solid when the layer is fully locked and hollow when the layer is partially locked.
The eye icon at the left of each layer indicates whether the layer is visible or not. If you click on it, the eye will disappear and the layer becomes invisible - until you click on it again to make it visible. Any layer that has an FX symbol means that you've applied layer effects to that layer. Layer effects include bevel and emboss, stroke, inner shadow, inner glow, satin, color overlay, gradient overlay, pattern overlay, outer glow, and drop shadow. We'll learn more detail about those in lesson 13. At the bottom of the layer palette are a series of icons that serve various layer functions. |
"She Sleeps" by Nathan Smith
The Layers Palette
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Photoshop will allow you to have as many layers as your computer memory will allow. When you are seeing a Photoshop image with many layers, you are looking down through this stack of layers with the topmost layer being at the top, and through each underlying layer until you reach the bottom layer. At right is the layers palette for one of my images, "She Sleeps."
Let's begin by learning about the layers palette. If you are in Photoshop and cannot see the layers palette, go to the WINDOWS menu and click on LAYERS. At the right of the Layers tab, you'll see a menu icon. Clicking on this in the layers palette will open a menu similar to the LAYERS menu, with nearly every command that controls what you can do with layers.
Let's begin by learning about the layers palette. If you are in Photoshop and cannot see the layers palette, go to the WINDOWS menu and click on LAYERS. At the right of the Layers tab, you'll see a menu icon. Clicking on this in the layers palette will open a menu similar to the LAYERS menu, with nearly every command that controls what you can do with layers.
Watch the two videos below...
Video: Some further layer basics (25:00)
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Video: Demonstration of working with layers (4:40)
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