due to celebration of Easter, which here in Germany lasts from yesterday (Friday) until Monday I will not be able to continue my Photoshop basic knowledge series until Monday evening.

Sorry for any inconvinience caused through that! I hope you all have a peaceful Easter celebration and have a few wonderful days with you loved Ones…

Layers in Photoshop

Today we will achieve a clear view of one of the most important concepts in Adobe Photoshop: The Layers!

Layers can be understood as a virtual counterpart to acetates in the real world. The are put in a stack on top of each other where some parts can be transparent and others are not.

This post is structured into 5 several sections that will make it easier for you to access the part(s) which interest you most.

• Basic concepts of Layers
• Organizing Layers
• Blend modes
• Opacity and fill
• Layer styles and layer effects

Basic Concepts of Layers

To become an overview of how layers work in Photoshop, take a look at the illustration below.

Layers are stacked on top of each other

Just imagine that the grey parts of each acetate are transparent and the coloured parts are not. If you put all these acetates on top of each other, we will achieve the impression get the german national flag. The bottom layer is totally covered with white, so none of its parts is transparent. Here you have it,  that’s how layers work. The appearance of the layers can be modified by several settings, which we will cover later on in this post (e. g. blend modes, opacity etc.)

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Organizing Layers

Your stack of layers is a fast growing thing. Layer quantity ranges from one layer for simple pictures over 20 t0 30 layers for small-sized projects up to several thousand for huge projects worked on over several months by famous digital artists. Therefore one of the most important things to remember is to keep your layers organized. This can be achieved mainly by to actions:

1. Naming your layers correctly
2. Grouping your layers in a meaningful order

So how do you name your layers? Several ways are possible but the most common are by double-clicking on a layers name (take care that you exactly hit the name) and then overwrite the previous given name “Layer #”. The second way is to click besides the layer name and in the upcoming popup simply enter the name you want to assign. A hint for naming layers is always to be as descriptive with your layer names as possible.

Grouping your layers into a meaningful array is possible since Photoshops version 6.0. Imagine that you have five layers that together make up your background. If you now e. g. want to move this background slightly you have to put your hands on every single layer move and take care that the combined image stays the same. With a layer group (which works like a folder) you simply put them into one “set” and instead of moving each layer separately you simply move the group (or set), orientation within then stays the same.

For grouping layers simply click on the first layer you want to group, then add additional layers by shift-clicking them (meaning you hold down the shift-key on your keyboard) and then click on the little folder icon at the bottom of your layers palette (if this palette is not shown, press F7 on your keaboard):

Please note that in newer versions of Photoshop (like CS3 and CS4) it is possible to use the keyboard shortcut SHIFT+G instead of clicking the icon. In older versions, you first create a folder by clicking the icon mentioned above and then put the layers manually in it (e. g. Photoshop 7.0).

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Blend modes

In the upper left corner of your layers palette there is dropdown field where you can choose what is called “blend modes” (The standard value here is “Normal”).

These blend modes control how the colors of the actual selected layer interact among each other. There are six groups with 25 different blend mode alltogether. The groups are:

1. Opacity relevant blend modes
2. Darkening blend modes (where white is neutral)
3. Brightening blend modes (where black is neutral)
4. Contrast increasing blend modes (where 50% grey is neutral)
5. Color inverting blend modes (where black is neutral)
6. Blend modes using color attributes (where hue, saturation and luminosity are relevant)

Don’t be scared if you do not understand everything that is written above (especially the part within the braces). As we will only give a brief overview of some of the most important blend modes, there will be a more detailed post purely focussing on blend modes in the near future.

The single blend modes are as follows:

• Normal (Group 1)
• Dissolve (Group 1)
• Darken (Group 2)
• Multiply (Group 2)
• Color Burn (Group 2)
• Linear Burn (Group 2)
• Darker Color (Group 2)
• Lighten (Group 3)
• Screen (Group 3)
• Color Dodge (Group 3)
• Linear Dodge - Add (Group 3)
• Lighter Color (Group 3)
• Overlay (Group 4)
• Soft Light (Group 4)
• Hard Light (Group 4)
• Vivid Light (Group 4)
• Linear Light (Group 4)
• Pin Light (Group 4)
• Hard Mix (Group 4)
• Difference (Group 5)
• Exclusion (Group 5)
• Hue (Group 6)
• Saturation (Group 6)
• Color (Group 6)
• Luminosity (Group 6)

We will focus now on 6 of the modes which are NORMAL, MULTIPLY, SCREEN, OVERLAY, DIFFERENCE, SATURATION.

NORMAL - A layer in this mode normally (you maybe guessed it from its name) with a opacity of 100% covers the layers below it totally. You can control the opacity of a layer by using the slider directly right of the blend mode dropdown:

MULTIPLY - Layers with the blend mode will work exactly as if you put two acetates together on an overhead projector. Where both acetates contain colors they will combine (or “multiply”) resulting in a darker image. Imagine a blue and a yellow layer. Putting the blue one on top of the yellow one in multiply mode, we will receive a green color.

SCREEN - If in the blend mode screen, your top layer will lighten a lot. As white is the basic color for calculation in this group this mode can be used to enhance the brightness of to dark images for example. That can be achieved by duplicating the layer (keyboard shortcut CTRL-J) and then put the top one to “screen”.

OVERLAY - The overlay blend mode works similar as the multiply or screen blend modes, but for this one the base color for the calculations Photoshop does is neither black or white, it’s something inbetween: 50% grey which on the color scale is in the middle between black and white. So it works a little bit as multiply/screen “lite”.

DIFFERENCE - This blend mode will show “extreme” results, as it calculates the exact opposite of the chosen color for regions where the layers don’t overlap. For overlapping parts it calculates a color somewhere near the middle of the distance between original color and opppsite one on the color scale. This blend mode is very good for experimenting with images, when you want to achieve unexpected results.

SATURATION - This blend mode calculates the difference between two layers based on the saturation of a color. Full saturation in this circumstance means that it is a very bright, pure color where a low saturation value gives the color a more pastel, dull look. In the example shown below, we have again used our yellow layer (which we did in all examples for the blend mode section) and reduced it to a very low saturation below 20% (don’t be afraid, saturation will be covered in this series, I promise )

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Opacity and Fill

Opacity and fill can be modified on the top of the layers pallette, using the corresponding sliders.

Those two adjustments work in a very similar way with one big difference. Where opacity changes the complete layer including all maybe attached layer effects (for more on layer effects, wait a moment, they are soon to be covered), the fill control handles only the layer itself without affecting a layer effect.

Let me give you an example. In the following two images, the opacity of the top layer (the pink one) was changed from 100% to 50%. Especially look at the shadow as it fades out together with the color of the box.

On the contrary take a look at the same image, where opacity stays at 100% but the fill changes from 100% to 50%.

Here we changed fill from 100% to 50%

Do you see how the applied layer effect, in this case the drop shadow stays at its full intensity?

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Layer styles and layer effects

Layer effects are some of the most popular functions of Photoshop. This comes mainly from 2 reasons:

1. They are combinable
2. They lighten your daily work

Imagine what it took in past days to create the shadow effect, that you have seen in the examples above (opacity and fill). You must create a new layer, place it below the main layer, reduce its opacity, let it “fade out”, take care that it only shows on two edges (in the examples above the bottom and right edges) etc. Since the incorporation of layer styles, you simply click the corresponding icon at the bottom of the layers palette

There are 10 different styles, which can be applied and combined freely. Those styles are:

• Drop Shadow
• Inner Shadow
• Outer Glow
• Inner Glow
• Bevel and Emboss
• Satin
• Color Overlay
• Gradient Overlay
• Pattern Overlay
• Stroke

We will have a look on three of them, which are DROP SHADOW, GRADIENT OVERLAY and STROKE.

DROP SHADOW - This layer effect places a shadow directly beneath the layers contents thereby following its outlines. Normally it shows with an angle of 120° meaning it implies that the light comes from that direction.

You can adjust this setting by moving the indicator to whatever direction you want. Please also make sure, that the preivew checkbox is marked, as this allows you to see the outcome of your adjustments.

Other adjustments that you can apply are the size of the shadow itself, the distance between the object and the shadow or the shadow color.

GRADIENT OVERLAY - The gradient overlay is a tool, for replacing or adjusting the original object color with a predefined or custom made gradient. Gradients are a little like rainbows, they smoothly convert from one color to another (or three or four or whatever number of different colors you want to apply). To apply this layer effect, click it’s checkbox in the effects panel (to access the panel click the icon mentioned above) and set the checkbox for gradient overlay.

To assign the different settings, make sure, that the checkbox is not only marked but the section is also highlighted (blue in this example - see image above). In the settings you now can make changes to the several options available. E. g. we here - again - have our blend modes, meaning that this time the blend mode corresponds between the effect and the object layer.

We also have an angle which can be adjusted as well as the opacity of the effect. When you doubleclick on the black to white color range in the middle of the toolbox, you can choose another gradient (there are several predefined) as well as create your own. Don’t bother if this seems very complicated to you. As mentioned before Photoshop is a mighty tool which needs its time to get learned. We will have a complete series only on layer effects including examples in the near future. For this moment it is good to know, that the gradient shown in the palette is defined by the foreground and background color of Photoshop itself (which can be found on the bottom of the tools palette).

STROKE - With stroke we can give our layers contents an outline. We can define position, size, opacity etc. What makes this function quite funny, is the fact that we can not only can apply any kind of color but also e. g. a gradient, if we want to (see below).

To apply this effect, simply change the fill type from color to overlay:

Another “cool” function of Photoshop is, that you cannot only combine these effects (e. g. an object can have a drop shadow AND a stroke) but once you’re satisfied with your outcome, you can save the effects applied as a style, which can be reused later on. To do so, simply click the “New Style…”-Button and give it a descriptive name.

To re-apply the formerly saved styles, open up your styles palette through using the keyboard-shortcut SHIFT+F9 for CS4 otherwise go to the main menu and choose Window / Styles. In the upcoming palette you can hover over the several styles available and with clicking one, you apply its settings.

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This concludes our second day and although it was quite some stuff to read (more than 2.000 words) I hope you like it and can achieve some new information for your everyday use of Photoshop.

See ya, tomorrow

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This post is day 2 of the 7 day series “7 essential steps for basic Photoshop knowledge”. Previous published posts can be found here:

• Day 1:  Introduction, overview and differentiation

Introduction into the series

As a start for this Blog I will create a seven day series on the basic concepts of Adobes premium image editing flagship, Photoshop.

Often times its quite difficult for new users of this allround very mighty toolbox to get access to its many many functions. But through all versions that occured (actual version is CS4) there are some basic ideas behind it, that stay consistent throughout its history. These essential ideas will be explained in this series.

The seven parts of this series are as follows:

1. Day 1 - Introduction, overview and differentiation
2. Day 2 - Layers
3. Day 3 - Selections
4. Day 4 - Image correction
5. Day 5 - Image retouching
6. Day 6 - Filters
7. Day 7 - Extensibility

Differentiation

The main thing to understand is the difference between a program like Photoshop, which is pixel-based and e. g. Illustrator which is vector-based.

Photoshop works with single image-components, called “Pixels”. Those pixels are set together in a mosaic-like manner and - with enough distance - give an image composition. Photo-realistic image display is a main-advantage of pixel-based software, not seamlessly resizeable pictures is one of its disadvantages.

Illustrator e. g. in comparison to Photoshop works with “Vectors” which are mathematical descriptions of curves. Although they can be combined to nearly photo-like quality, they can never reach the image quality of a, lets say good digital-camera image, which is one of its main disadvantages. On the the other hand, the advantage of vector-based image manipulation programs is that resizing without quality loss is possible (mathematic descriptions stay the same wether its 20 inch or 20 feet).

Although - like always in live - this is not the complete truth (Illsutrator can handle pixel-based images, Photoshop can create vectors). But for the moment, lets keep those two statements in mind.

So what will be covered in the next days throughout the lessons?

Day 1: Intro and overview - Every race needs a start

We’re actually in it so you can simply read on

Day 2: Layers - Putting’em on top

In day 2 we will extensively cover the layer concept of Photoshop. Layers are parts of the image that can be edited separately and will be organized in a stack on top of each other. They can be understood the same as overhead transparencies, one over the other. You can see through on some parts of the transparencies, through other parts it’s impossible. In this section you will get a detailed overview of the different types of layers, layer effects, blend modes and related topics.

Day 3:  Selections - One for you, one for me

This days topic covers selections which are very important. Imagine that you only want to apply some of your new techniques only on some exclusive parts of your image. How do you make sure, that this exclusiveness can be maintained? You select the parts you want to alter. In this part we will cover some of the tools and methods that let us exactly that. We will also take care what should be considered after selecting and before modifying our images (or parts of it).

Day 4: Image correction - Enlighten my day

Everyone of you dear readers, who has already somehow worked with pictures knows this situation: You took or downloaded a picture but something seems to be wrong. The picture is underexposed, wrong colors, too dark, too bright… The list of possible corrections can be nearly endless. In this days topic we cover how to fix some of those things that normally apply to all parts of the picture. We will talk about adjustment layers and color corrections as well as the difference between image correction and image retouching.

Day 5: Image retouching - As beautiful as can be

In differentiation to the previous topic of image correction this day will focus on image retouching which normally applies only to parts of your picture. Classical tasks in image retouching will cover red-eye-reduction, brightening your teeth (with no need to visit your dentist), changing colors completely (e. g. from green to red), cloning and stamping (no postal or biophysical knowledge required) and many others. We will go through some of these by example including before/after comparisons.

Day 6: Filters - the smoking guns of image manipulation

Filters (often referred to as effects) can have a huge impact on your design or image. With filters in Photoshop you can completely change the presentation of your image. With far more than 70 built-in filters the Adobe software offers a huge amount of variations. We will show some of the most prominent and most used filters, cover the adjustments in the dialogue-boxes of the filters mentioned and also talk about when to best use filters and when they should be better avoided.

Day 7:  Extensibility - Beam me up, Scotty

On this last and final day of our excursion through the basic concepts of Photoshop we will take about the enormous possibilities to extend your software. We will hear of brushes, custom shapes, gradients, color swatches and much much more. Of course we will also list some of the most valuable places where those “extendables” can be found and what we should have in mind when using third-party stuff. Another subtopic will be “when to use what” as well as how to create your own “tools” (brushes, shapes etc. - you name it) for your needs or even for sharing with the community. As this is our final day in this series, some proposals where to go from here or what to learn do next will round our little trip.

Conclusion

We will cover the most basic concepts in detail in this course. Some of you - especially when the complete series is published after day 7 - will maybe only use parts of it where they feel it may enhance your Photoshop experience. Since a blog like this lives from the user exerience and visitors participation all comments are highly appreciated as they lead to interesting new views for everyone. Throughout the posting of this series I will try to take care of any previous posted comments so that the greatest experience for all visitors can be maintained.

These final words end the first day and introductory post for the series. As always, I hope you like this stuff