1. Adobe Photoshop
Lesson 2
Manipulating Layers and Shapes
By Antonio Cribari

2. Adobe Photoshop
Lesson 2 – Manipulating Layers and Shapes
Objective: You will learn how to work with Layers and shapes in
Adobe Photoshop. This will allow for more creativity and
flexibility in your work.
Requirements: You must have Adobe Photoshop CS3 or higher.
(The interface is not exactly same for older versions)

3. Adobe Photoshop
Lesson 2 – Manipulating Layers and Shapes Step 1
Step-by-Step
For this lesson, we will be focusing on the layers
tab at the bottom right corner of the screen.
(this tab should be open by default)
Start out by creating a 500 x 500 px blank
canvas. Take note of the Layers window. A
New layer should have been created that is
entitled “background” and is a locked layer.
For now, leave this layer alone.

4. Adobe Photoshop
Lesson 2 – Manipulating Layers and Shapes Step 2
Step-by-Step
Let’s Create a new layer. Click on Layer -> New -> New Layer. . .

5. Adobe Photoshop
Lesson 2 – Manipulating Layers and Shapes Step 3
Step-by-Step
You should now see a new window entitled “New Layer”. For the
sake of this lesson, use the name “My First New Layer” as the New
Layer’s name.
(Use the following settings as shown in the picture)

6. Adobe Photoshop
Lesson 2 – Manipulating Layers and Shapes Step 4
Step-by-Step
Go ahead and draw something using the brush tool with the new
layer active. For this example, I will draw a square.

7. Adobe Photoshop
Lesson 2 – Manipulating Layers and Shapes Step 5
Step-by-Step
Now use the Move Tool and try dragging your new drawing around.
Tip: The letters in parentheses next to tools are keyboard shortcuts to activate
that specified tool. Learn these shortcuts to enable you to work faster in
Adobe Photoshop.

8. Adobe Photoshop
Lesson 2 – Manipulating Layers and Shapes Step 6
Step-by-Step
The reason you can move your drawing around is because you
drew on an empty layer. Empty Layers are 100% transparent by
default, and this allows for complex manipulation when making
graphics.
Now let’s try duplicating the layer that you drew on. This will make a
second instance of your layer.
Right click on “My New Layer” and click on “Duplicate Layer…”

9. Adobe Photoshop
Lesson 2 – Manipulating Layers and Shapes Step 7
Step-by-Step
You should now see a window similar to the one showed below. You
can change the name of this layer if you want, but I will leave it as
“My New Layer copy” for the sake of this example.

10. Adobe Photoshop
Lesson 2 – Manipulating Layers and Shapes Step 8
Step-by-Step
Now that you have duplicated your first layer, observe the layers
dialog box at the bottom right corner of the screen. It should look
similar to the picture shown below. Select your duplicated
layer, and try moving it around using the Move Tool.
Since you have two instances of this layer, you are able to move
one around, and the other will remain still.
Move your duplicated layer enough so you
can tell the two apart from each other.

11. Adobe Photoshop
Lesson 2 – Manipulating Layers and Shapes Step 9
Step-by-Step
Right click on the duplicated layer that should appear above the
original layer. Right click it and select Merge Down.
Doing this will merge the selected layer with the layer below it.

12. Adobe Photoshop
Lesson 2 – Manipulating Layers and Shapes Step 10
Step-by-Step
Try moving the merged layers. They should now both move
together as one layer.

13. Adobe Photoshop
Lesson 2 – Manipulating Layers and Shapes Step 11
Step-by-Step
Try experimenting with layers to learn how they work. For now, you
have been taught the basics of creating and manipulating layers.
Let’s learn one more function.
Right click on your merged layer, and click Delete Layer to
remove the layer from your canvas.

14. Adobe Photoshop
Lesson 2 – Manipulating Layers and Shapes Step 12
Step-by-Step
Now that you understand how Layers work, let’s move on to using
the shape tool. Click on the shape tool now. Right clicking the
shape tool will allow you to change the active shape being
drawn. Right click it, and make sure it is set to the Rectangle Tool.

15. Adobe Photoshop
Lesson 2 – Manipulating Layers and Shapes Step 13
Step-by-Step
With the Rectangle Tool active, draw a rectangle in your canvas.

16. Adobe Photoshop
Lesson 2 – Manipulating Layers and Shapes Step 14
Step-by-Step
Observe your Layers window at the bottom right corner of the
screen. The shape should now show up along with what is known
as a “Vector Mask”. We will ignore masks for this lesson.
Double click on the colored box next to your shape layer. Doing
this will enable you to change the color of the shape that you
drew.

17. Adobe Photoshop
Lesson 2 – Manipulating Layers and Shapes Step 15
Step-by-Step
Once you understand how to change a shape’s color, Right click
on your shape’s layer and click “Rasterize Layer” to remove the
vector mask from your shape.
The shape you drew should now be set as a normal editable
layer.

18. Adobe Photoshop
Lesson 2 – Manipulating Layers and Shapes Step 16
Step-by-Step
Click on the eye icon to the left of your shape layer. Clicking this
icon will hide or unhide the layer that it is attached to.

19. Adobe Photoshop
Lesson 2 – Manipulating Layers and Shapes Step 17
Step-by-Step
Now try changing the Opacity levels with the Shape layer active.
Change this to a value of 50% or lower. This will make your active
layer translucent or entirely transparent depending on your set
values.

20. Adobe Photoshop
Lesson 2 – Manipulating Layers and Shapes Completed
Conclusion
This concludes Lesson 2, and you should now be able to work more
efficiently using layers and shapes. Here is a list of what you should
understand from this lesson.
• Location of Layers Tab
• How to make empty New Layers
• How to move layers freely using the Move Tool
• How to Duplicate, Merge, and Delete Layers
• How to draw with the Shape Tool (specifically the Rectangle Tool)
• How to change the color of a Shape Tool Layer
• How to Rasterize a Layer (Removing unnecessary properties of a layer)
• How to Hide layers
• How to change the opacity of a layer (visibility)

21. Adobe Photoshop
Lesson 2 – Manipulating Layers and Shapes Review
On-Your-Own
Now that you know how to work with layers in Adobe
Photoshop, complete the following tasks below. You may refer to the
lesson at any time for help.
1. Create a 350 x 500 canvas project
2. Create a New Layer, name it “Smile”
3. Draw a smiley face in that new layer with 37% Opacity
4. Create a green rectangle with the opacity of 55%
5. Rasterize the rectangle layer
6. Create a new layer and name it “unknown”
7. Draw a blue rectangle and hide its layer.
8. Delete the layer entitled “Smile”
This concludes the exercise for Manipulating Layers and Shapes. Move on to
Lesson 3 when you feel you have a strong understanding of Lesson 2.