The layer structure in Adobe Photoshop is part of the main toolkit that allows the designer to work with a flat digital image as a system of independent graphic objects superimposed on each other and making up a single composition. The creation of each new layer increases the flexibility of image processing, makes it possible to carry out many operations for retouching, color correction, applying effects, etc.
Instructions
Step 1
The system of layers of the program is a semblance of a stack of flat images taken from real life, as if you were composing a collage of paper illustrations cut from somewhere and pieces of colored paper, laying them on the table one on top of another - some would overlap each other, some would partially visible, some would stick out of the working surface. If the material of the illustrations were translucent, through it would be seen lying from below, etc. Adobe Photoshop works in a similar way, except that the images and cutouts are digital.
Photoshop layers can be of several types.
First, it can be, in fact, digital raster images - fragments of photographs, drawings, etc.
Secondly, it can be layers generated by the program - monochrome and multi-colored geometric shapes, primitives, lines, letters, etc.
Thirdly, these can be layers that do not have their own image, but perform service functions - as a rule, these are layers that adjust color, brightness, and other parameters of the image below them.
In the list of layers, as a rule, there is one special layer - it is denoted by the name Background or Background - which has significant restrictions compared to other layers: it has a size rigidly attached to the working size of the composition, it cannot be moved from its place, and does not have transparency / Being at the same time, on the very last line in the list of layers, by default it is the basis of the entire composition, all other layers are located above this background layer. The first time you open any digital image in Photoshop, it is a minimal composition - that is, it consists of a single layer of type Background.
All other layers created during work can have more free parameters and be used more flexibly.
- first of all, they can have any dimensions - their height and width can be either less than the working area of your composition, or more than it, in the latter case, of course, the edges of these layers will be hidden outside the picture.
- secondly, each layer can have one of the freely selectable blending modes - that is, you can specify how it will interact with the underlying image. This is primarily the overall degree of its transparency, controlled by a separate parameter. And also the mathematical algorithm by which the interaction will be determined - it can darken or brighten the underlying image, affect its shadow areas or be visible only in light areas, affect color, saturation, etc.
- thirdly, each layer can have a transparency mask. A mask is a raster map that has the same geometric dimensions as the layer to which it belongs. The color of each of its pixels can be in the range from black to white, which, accordingly, makes the image of the information layer in this area visible, invisible or translucent. That is, for example, you have a rectangular photograph, and you need to see only a part of it in the form of an oval, outside of which the layer should be invisible. To achieve this, you can draw a white oval in the right place on the layer mask, then the edges of the layer will become transparent, and the picture inside the oval will be visible.
Step 2
Since a layer of the Background type, as mentioned above, cannot change either its transparency or its geometric dimensions, then most often the most necessary operation is getting rid of these restrictions, i.e. creating a full-fledged layer from the Background layer.
To do this, open the picture in Adobe Photoshop. We make the panel with the list of layers visible (F7 on the keyboard or the menu item Window> Layers). We see that there is only one Background layer in the list, hover the mouse over it and in the context menu (in Windows, this is the left mouse button) we find the Layer from Background item. You can also find this command under Layer> New> Layer from Background.
Now the resulting layer can be moved, stretched - enlarged and reduced in size, relative to the composition field, - erased, deleted or masked unnecessary parts in it, etc.
Step 3
You can duplicate a layer, sometimes it is necessary for editing operations, when some areas need to be modified, but the original image should remain intact just in case. Then, having selected the desired layer in the list of layers, we find in the main menu the command Layer> New> Layer via Copy (Layer by copying). In the layers panel, this can be done by simply dragging the line with the desired layer onto the icon with the "blank sheet" icon at the bottom of the panel.
On a separate layer, you can duplicate not the entire original layer, but some part of it. To do this, you can first make a selection on it - using tools from the Lasso, Marquee, Quick Selection, etc. In this case, when the Layer via Copy command is selected, only a fragment of the original will be copied to the new layer.
Step 4
If you just want a blank layer, you can create it through the Layer> New> Layer menu, or by clicking on the blank sheet icon at the bottom of the Layers panel. On it you can paint something, for example, using Photoshop brushes.
Step 5
For any image inserted into the composition via the clipboard, a new unique layer will be automatically created.
When creating geometric primitives or inscriptions using Photoshop tools, for each created object, its own layer will also be automatically generated.
Step 6
Adjustment layers, with which the operations of color correction are carried out, can be created either through the Layer> New Adjustment Layer menu, or by finding the icon with a black and white circle split in two at the bottom of the layers panel. Next, you have the opportunity to choose one of the types of adjustment layers. Such layers will be created. Recall that if there is a selection in the image before starting the operation to create a new layer - and this is indicated by the presence of flickering dotted lines along the selection contours - then the created layer will inherit this selection as a mask. Thus, for example, the operation of color correction using a new layer will not be performed over the entire image, but only over the selected part, that is, where the layer mask will allow it to be opaque.
