Lesson overview
In this lesson, you’ll learn how to do the following:
Organize artwork on layers.
Create, view, hide, and select layers.
Rearrange layers to change the stacking order of artwork.
Apply blending modes to layers.
Resize and rotate layers.
Apply a gradient to a layer.
Apply a filter to a layer.
Add text and layer effects to a layer.
Add an adjustment layer.
Save a copy of the file with the layers flattened.
This lesson will take less than an hour to complete.
Please log in to your account on peachpit.com to download the lesson files for this chapter, or go to the Getting Started section at the beginning of this book and follow the instructions under “Accessing the Lesson Files and Web Edition.” As you work on this lesson, you’ll preserve the start files. If you need to restore the start files, download them from your Account page.
)
PROJECT: TRAVEL POSTCARD
Pineapple and flower photography © Image Source, www.imagesource.com
In Photoshop, you can isolate different parts of an image on layers. Each layer can then be edited as discrete artwork, giving you tremendous flexibility as you compose and revise an image.
About layers
Every Photoshop file contains one or more layers. New files are generally created with a background layer, which contains a color or an image that shows through the transparent areas of subsequent layers. All new layers in an image are transparent until you add text or artwork.
Working with layers is analogous to placing portions of a drawing on clear sheets of film, such as those viewed with an overhead projector: Individual sheets may be edited, repositioned, and deleted without affecting the other sheets. When the sheets are stacked, the entire composition is visible.