WORKING WITH LAYERS                                                                                                                            

The layer have very important role in the photoshop. If you want to work on Photoshop, you should have

On the right side of your interface, you will see a tab called Layers. If you don't see any tab named 

'Layers' then you have to click on window and then tick the Layers option. Then you will see the following tab.

Now I am giving you a brief description of all of the related terms. Below is the image of our canvas that contain the layer tab. And for your convenience, I have numbered all the options in the image so I can explain with visual experience.

1. Layer Visibility 

The label no. 1 is a kind of eye's icon. It is the visibility of a layer. If we click on the visibility of a particular layer, then the layer is disappeared from our main canvas. For example, if we have selected "Layer 1" and add some text using the TEXT tool (shortcut is T) then we will see the text on our canvas. If we click on the visibility icon of the text layer then the text will also get disappear from the canvas. Means the layer visibility icon of every layer decides that what to show or what to hide from the screen for a particular moment.

2. Layer Lock

The label no. 2 is the layer lock.You will see the lock icon on the background layer when you create a new document. The layer lock means that we cannot move the contents of  the locked layer. If we select the MOVE tool (V) and then try to move the  background layer, then it won't allow you to move anything. To unlock a layer we must double click on the Background Layer or any other layer that is locked.

3. Opacity and Fill

The label no. 3 tells about the Opacity and fill. Opacity of a layer is basically a type of transparency of that layer. Initially, the opacity of a layer is 100% i.e. maximum. We can lower the opacity of "Layer 1" by clicking on opacity's level and reduce it as per our requirement. Fill is a property that controls the fill amount of content. For example, if we have a text written with red colour, and we think that the red text has too much contrast or its too dark. Then we can lower the fill amount of the text. The difference between Opacity and Fill is that Opacity controls the transparency of the whole layer and the Fill controls the transparency of a   particular boundary i.e. a text etc.The other parts of the layer will not affected during the Fill operation.

4. Blending Mode

The label no. 4 tells about the Blending mode of the particular layer. Blending mode is basically intermixing of  two layers. In our houses, we have the Blenders to blend two or more elements. You can change the blending mode of any layer. There are a variety of options provided in the drop down menu. But the Blending will work only if we have multiple layers and at least two layers contain some common filled part. The Blending of a layer can also be accessed by just double clicking on a unlocked layer. We will discuss more about Blending in future.

5. Layer Thumbnail

The label no. 5 is the thumbnail of current layer that actually helps us know about what the layer contains. For example, if our layer is filled with black colour then the layer thumbnail will also be fully black. If we have multiple visible layers in our single document and each layer contains some object. Then we can easily come to know that what the layer is containing just by clicking on the thumbnail of a layer by pressing and holding the Ctrl button of the keyboard. Then a selection will be made around the content of the particular layer. The selection can be unselected by pressing Ctrl+D buttons together.

6. Linking Layers

If  you have two layers and you have to link the two layers. Then select the layers together by clicking on a layer first and then click the other layer while holding the Ctrl button of keyboard. And hence when more than two layers are selected then the icon of link layer will be visible to be clicked. It is used to link layers to share common characteristics.

7. Layer Style

If we have created a text above a layer then while selecting the text layer click on the "fx" icon at the bottom of layer tab. It is called the "Layer Style". As name suggests, its like add styles to our layer. By clicking we see the drop menu containing the plenty of options like Drop Shadow, Inner Shadow, Outer Shadow, Inner Glow, Outer Glow, Gradient etc. We can apply any of the layer style to our text layer or any as per our requirement. For example, we can add Drop Shadow to our text etc. To change the layer style of a particular layer, we have to double click on that layer and the layer style box will be popped up.

8. Layer Mask

The layer mask is a little bit difficult to understand. Masking is the process of taking a selection of one layer to mask the other layer. If we have two layers, one of them is a text layer containing orange text and other is a simple layer filled with black colour. If we Ctrl click the text layer's thumbnail, then we see that our text is selected then we have to click on the black filled layer and then click on the Add a layer mask button. Then what you will see that is we have a black coloured text with no background black colour.

9. Adjustment Layer

The label no. 9 is the button of 'create or fill adjustment layer'. While a layer selected, click on the half black circle icon i.e. the 'Adjustment Layer' icon, then you will see the variety of options like Solid colour (to fill the layer with a selected colour), Gradient (add gradient), Pattern (insert pattern), Levels (change the levels), Curves, Hue/Saturation (change the colors and lightness), Black&White etc.

10. Groups

If our document contains too many layers. So it become complicated to deal with the layers. Or if we later on change our mind about any part of layer then it may be difficult to locate a particular item. Then an important function that can solve our problem is a "Group". If we want to combine two or more similar layers in a group then select the layers by Ctrl-clicking the layers and then click on Group icon. Or press Ctrl-G buttons together to group the layers. So if we want to add some adjustment or layer style to some layers then we can apply that easily to the group of layers.

11. New Layer

By the way, I have to write this point on the top of the points. Okay, the icon is used to create a New layer above the selected layer. If we want the layer to be created below the selected layer, then Ctrl-click on the new layer icon.

12. Delete Layer

If you do not want a layer to be placed in the layer's tab then click on a layer you hate or you want to remove and click on Delete icon at the end of layer tab. Or you can also press the Delete button to delete the layer. You can also delete multiple layers by clicking this icon. Or you can right click on a layer to delete that.

13. Tab Options

At the upper right corner of the tab, you will see a down-arrow menu. When you click on that you will find some options that you have recently read about above in this post like New layer, Delete layer, Mask, Blending options etc. There are also some options like Merge Layers, Merge down etc. Merging can be done only if two or more layers are selected. Meaning of merging is to merge or collectively combine all the selected layers into a single layer. You can also merge layers by selecting at least two layer and then right click on any one of the selected layer and then click on Merge layers.

14. Layers Menu

The Layers Menu at the top of interface contains all the options you have read till now in this post. It contains  options like New layer, Delete, Adjustment, Merge, Mask, Layer style, blending and grouping etc.