Beginning Layers

I've had several people email me this month asking about layers. What are they? Why do we need them? What will they do for me? How do I use them? etc. In a series of articles I will try and cover what I know about layers and hopefully that will answer the previous questions.

The first thing we need to do is figure out the basics. How can we add a layer? There are several ways of adding layers to an image. The most basic way is from the Layers menu. You can add a new raster, vector or adjustment layer to your image. You can duplicate a layer, apply matting, arrange, view and merge layers from the Layers menu.

Another way to add a layer is from the Edit menu. You can copy an image or part of an image and paste it as a new layer. You can copy from the image you are working on or from a totally separate image and paste to and from separate images as layers.

You can add layers from the layers palette which you will see further down this page.

Raster and Vector layers are pretty self explanatory. Adjustment layers are a little different. With adjustment layers you can alter an image through a layer without altering the base image until you merge the layers.

Below is my sample image. I'm going to apply just a couple of adjustment layers so you can see how they can change an image. Keep in mind that these are layers over the original image so it is not changing. You are seeing the original through the adjustment layers. If I were to turn off the visibility of all the adjustment layers, the original image would look the same as it did when I opened it. That is because until we merge the layers, the original does not get altered.

Now I'm going to apply a Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer with the settings you see below.

As you can see, that altered the appearance of the image quite a bit.

While I'm in the Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer I thought I'd like to change the blend mode to Saturation and the opacity of the layer to 54. Some are asking, "Why 54?, why not 50?". There is no reason. I just liked the look of the image.

And below is the image with the Saturation and opacity adjustments.

Below is a screenshot of the Layer Palette after the Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer has been applied. As you can see it shows the opacity and it shows that I've used a blend mode of Saturation. The layer is named for the adjustment type it is. I'll go more into blend modes in another tutorial.

So, let's do one more adjustment layer. For a more cartoony look, let's adjust the Hue/Saturation/Lightness by adding that type of adjustment layer.

With the settings above I came up with the image below. I didn't have to do much work to achieve this effect just by using adjustment layers.

And below is the layer palette after adding the new adjustment layer.

Although a lot of people take all this stuff terribly seriously, in the beginning it's better to take your time and have fun with it. Open an image and just start adding adjustment layers. Change settings on the layers and see what kind of results you get. The best way to learn is by doing. Experiment.

The Matting options are used when copying and pasting selections into a layer. Defringe, Remove Black Matte and Remove White Matte try to remove the jaggy effect caused by aliased and/or feathered edges of a selection.

Arrange is self explanatory. You can move layers up and/or down. I personally use the layer palette to do this. All you have to do is select the layer and drag it to where you want it when using the layer palette.

When you're all through with your image, the first thing you want to do before you do anything else is save it in the .psp format. When you do that it saves all your layer information so if you later want to come back and see what you did or change something you can do it from the exact same copy. After you have your .psp format then you can either merge all the layers from the Layers menu or just save the image and Paint Shop Pro will let you know that it will need to flatten the layers to finish saving.

If you can't find the layer palette, go to View>Toolbars and check the box next to Layer Palette. I leave mine open all the time.

And below is a layer palette with lots of layers on it. There is something worth noting here. The Background layer does not mean the background color. The Background layer is a totally separate layer that may or may not have anything on it. It is not adjustable like the other layers. If you have something on the Background layer and you want it to be adjustable, go to the Select menu and Select All then go to Select>Promote to Layer. You'll see a new layer with a copy of your background layer on it. It will be adjustable as you'll be able to see on the right hand side of the layer palette.

Aside from the things I've shown you above, Layers are good for many things. My biggest use for them is layout. I can create an image with objects on separate layers and then move the layers around to get just the layout design I want. If I add something to the image and later down the line I decide I don't want it, I don't have to worry if I have enough undo's left to get rid of it. All I have to do is delete the layer it is on. If you work with complex images it's the only way to go.

Let's say for instance I want to add roses from the Picture tube tool. And let's say I want to arrange them like they are in a vase. If I put a single rose on a layer until I have all the roses I want, I can then use the mover tool to move the layers around to arrange my roses.

There are 19 layers on the above 2 images. I created a separate layer for each element of the flower arrangement. Once I had all my pieces on layers I simply arranged and moved the layers to get the image on the right.

The next Layer tutorial will cover transparency and blend modes.

Copyright Vikki Olds, All Rights Reserved