1. Layer Management
Layer Management

2. Layer Management
• The most difficult aspect of working in
Photoshop is how to work in a document on
multiple layers. Creating multiple layers lets
you easily control how your artwork is
displayed, edited and printed.

3. Layer Pane-The layers pane is one of the panes that is best to
keep visible at all times. If you do not see it when you open
Photoshop, go to window> show layers and it will be restored.

5. Adding New Layers
• You can think of the layers as clear pages
overlaying each other.
• The layers pane provides a good visualization
of this concept because the layers appear in
the layers pane as they are organized in the
document. To demonstrate this, add a new
layer and type a title on it.

6. Adding New Layers
• Go to Layer> and Select New Layer.
• Type a name for the layer in the dialog box
that appears and click enter.
• It should now appear in the layers pane (but
since it is currently empty, there will be no
sign of it in the image).
• Select the text tool from the tool bar, click and
drag somewhere on the image (making sure
the new layer is still highlighted in blue).

7. Selecting Layers
• Select the Type tool and type a title or Filename.
On the top text layer, click the eye icon.
• Click on the paintbrush next to it.
• Click on the name of the layer below.
• You see that the paintbrush now shows on the
new active layer.
• Click on the empty paintbrush box to lock and
unlock layers to avoid unwanted changes.
• The squiggle means it is locked.

8. Arranging Layers
• Arranging layers can be done manually. To do it, follow
these steps.
• Click and drag your text layer underneath the original image
layer. You will see that the text no longer appears. That is
because it is now located behind the opaque image layer.
• However, there is a quicker and easier way.
• Just click on the do geared page icon at the bottom of the
layers pane.
• You can double click on this layer's name to change it.
• If you want to delete a layer, you can either drag it to the
trash icon at the bottom of the layers pane or select the layer
and click the trash icon.

9. Arranging Layers
• Sometimes you want to combine the contents of two layers onto
one layer. To do it, follow the following steps:
• Select the layer you want to be on top of the new merged layer,
make sure the other layer you would like to merge is directly
beneath it, and select Merge Down from the Layer menu.
• The two layers are now one. If you want to merge down an entire
file of layers, select "Flatten image" from the layers menu and then
all layers will be squashed into one.
• When you merge or flatten layers that contain text layers, you will
be asked whether you would like to rasterize that text (that is,
convert it to an image and lose the ability to edit it). It is a good
idea to copy any layer and hide them before you rasterize and
merge.
• It saves you the work of completely recreating layers if you decide
to change text.

10. Actions that can be applied on layers
• A. Duplicate Layer
• Open the image in Photoshop, and select the
layer that you want to duplicate. Click
Photoshop layer menu, click duplicate Layer
and drag it to the bottom section of the layers
palette on to the new layer button.
• Now you will have two versions of the same
layer, you can rename the layers so you know
which is which, or just turn off the visibility of
the safe layer as shown by clicking on the eye
symbol box and delete the layer that you do
not want.

11. Actions that can be applied on layers
• B. Rasterize and Flatten Layers
• If you apply layer style effects to text or shapes and
then rasterize the layer, only the text or shape
content is rasterized. The layer effects stay separate
and editable. Usually, this is a good thing, but if you
then apply a filter, it only gets applied to the text or
shape and not the effects. To rasterize and flatten
the entire layer contents, create a new, empty layer
below the layer with your effects and merge down
(Ctrl+E on Windows).

12. Actions that can be applied on layers
• C. Copy and Paste Layer Style
• Copying and pasting styles is an easy way to apply
the same effects on multiple layers. From the Layers
panel, click on the layer with the style you want to
copy, Then, go to Layer > Layer Style > Copy Layer
Style. Select the destination layer from the panel,
choose Layer > Layer Style > Paste Layer Style. This
will replace any existing styles on the target layer.
You can even copy a style from one document and
paste it into another.

13. Actions that can be applied on layers
• D. Clear/Remove Layer Style
• There are two ways to remove a style from a layer using the
Styles panel.
• The first style in the Styles panel is named “Default Style
(None).” Clicking on it will remove all style effects from the
current layer, whether they were presets or not.
• The second way is by clicking on the Clear Style button at
the bottom of the Styles panel. Both of these methods have
the same effect as dragging the layer's Effects bar to the
trashcan icon in the Layers panel.
• Now, as you add layers to an image, it is helpful to give them
names that reflect their content. Descriptive names make
layers easy to identify in the panel.