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Photoshop

Layers

Layers Project

This exercise will serve as a review of layers. To complete it you will:

• create clipping masks
• apply layer styles
• drag layers between images
• rename layers
• delete a layer
• convert a layer to a Background layer
• use a number of selection techniques
• convert a selection to a layer
• link layers
• reposition layer content
• duplicate layers

To create this project, you'll need to download a .zip file for the PC or .sit file for the Macintosh (1 MB) containing the component images. Once the file has finished downloading to your computer, extract the files from the .zip or .sit file using a decompression utility program like WinZip (PC) or Stuffit Expander (Macintosh) (Windows XP and later do not need a program to open .zip files). You should now have a folder called layers_project containing five files named city.psd, glasses.psd, greenspace_text.psd, park.psd, and project_text.psd.

This is a miniature version of the image you'll be creating:

Creating the New Image

1. Open a new image document and set the options in the New dialog as follows:
   • Name: layers_project.psd
   • Width: 640
   • Height: 450
   • Resolution: 72
   • Colour Mode: RGB Colour
   • Background Contents: Transparent

Dragging Layers From Other Files

2. Open the city.psd file. Drag the Background layer from the Layers panel while holding down the Shift key and drop it in layers_project.psd. The image should be centred and fill the document window. Close city.psd.
3. Delete Layer 1 from layers_project.psd. Convert Layer 2 to a background layer by going to Layer > New > Background From Layer.
4. Open park.psd and hold down the Shift key while dragging its layer to layers_project.psd. It should be centred in the destination document. Close park.psd.
5. Rename the new layer Park. Your Layers panel should look like this:
   

Separating an Image Into Two Layers

6. Open glasses.psd. It contains an image that's on a transparent layer. The lenses are filled with partially transparent pixels that you'll need to select and convert to a separate layer. Drag the glasses layer into layers_project.psd and close the glasses.psd file. Since the layer was already named in the source file, the name was transferred into the new file.
7. Save your file.

Creating Initial Selection With the Magic Wand Tool

8. Select the Magic Wand tool and set its options as follows:
   • Tolerance: 0
   • Anti-aliased: enabled
   • Contiguous: enabled
   • Use All Layers: disabled
9. Click inside one lens; then hold down the Shift key while clicking inside the other lens. You should now have a selection marquee around both lenses, like this:
   

Refining the Selection

10. The selection is pretty jagged and doesn't include all of the lens area so you'll refine it.
11. Go to Select > Grow. This will select a few more adjacent pixels.
12. Go to Select > Modify > Expand and enter a value of 2 pixels.
13. Go to Select > Feather and enter a Feather Radius value of 2 pixels.

New Layer From Selection

14. Cut the selection and place it on its own layer by pressing Shift-Ctrl-J (Shift-Cmd-J).
15. Hide the new layer to see how well your selection effort turned out. If you're unhappy with your results and you've run out of Undos, you can always use the File > Revert command to restore the version you saved prior to beginning the selection. If all looks well, save your file.
16. Display the new layer again and name it Lenses. Make sure it's the active layer.
17. Press the Ctrl (Cmd) key and click on the Lenses layer to select the lenses.
18. Apply a white fill either by using the keyboard shortcuts or use the Fill dialog in the Edit menu.
19. Remove the selection with Ctrl-D (Cmd-D). Your image should look like this:
    

Creating the Lenses Clipping Mask

20. We're going to create a clipping mask with the Lenses and Park layers. The Lenses layer will be the base layer so drag the Park layer above the Lenses layer.
21. Hold down the Alt (Option) key and hold the pointer between the Lenses and Park layers. When the pointer changes to the clipping mask icon, click to mask the layers. Now your project should look like this:
    

22. Save your file.
23. Make the Park layer the active layer. Use the Move tool to shift the park image around until it is framed the way you like it within the glasses.
24. Link the Park, Lenses, and Glasses layers together.
25. Use the Move tool and position the top of the glasses so they're at the top of the building in the centre of the city image.

Creating the Greenspace Text Clipping Mask

26. Open greenspace_text.psd, hold down the Shift key and drag the Greenspace layer into the project file. Close greenspace_text.psd. Holding the Shift key will cause the text to be centred in the window.
27. The new layer will be added to the clipping mask group. Remove the Greenspace layer from the clipping mask.
    
28. Use the Shift key along with the Move tool to drag the Greenspace text down in the image until it just overlaps the bottom of the glasses.
    
29. Duplicate the Park layer by dragging it from the layer list onto the New Layer button in the Layers panel. It will automatically become part of the Lenses clipping mask but we're going to use it for a new clipping mask. Drag the Park copy layer in the layer list so it's above the Greenspace layer.
30. Create a clipping mask with Greenspace as the base layer along with the Park copy layer. The park image should be displayed in the text.
31. Save your file.
    

Adding Layer Styles to the Greenspace Text

32. Link the Park copy layer to the Park layer. We want the park images to stay together so there is continuity between the view through the glasses and the Greenspace text.
33. Click on the Greenspace layer. We're going to add layer styles to the text to make it stand apart from the glasses.
34. At the bottom of the Layers panel, click on the Add Layer Style button . Select Colour Overlay from the pop-up menu.
35. In the Layer Style dialog, click on the colour swatch and enter the hexadecimal code CCFF99 in the Colour Picker and click OK. Leave the Blend Mode at Normal and reduce the Opacity to 35%.
36. Click on Bevel and Emboss in the list on the left of the Layer Styles dialog. Make sure to click on the name to display the settings for Bevel and Emboss. If you only enable the check box, the Colour Overlay settings will remain displayed. Match your settings to the ones at the right. Changes from the default settings have been highlighted in yellow. For Highlight Mode, click on the colour swatch to display the colour picker and enter the hex code shown in red below. Don't type in the # sign, though.
    
37. Next, click on the Drop Shadow layer style. Make the following changes to the Drop Shadow settings:
    • Colour swatch: #666633
    • Distance: 6 px
38. Click OK to close the Layer Styles dialog and to apply the three layer styles to the Greenspace text.
39. Save your file.

Here is part of the Greenspace text at 100% magnification so you can compare your effects. The colour overlay was added to lighten the text a bit to make it stand out from the glasses. The dark green shadow colour was chosen to give a softer, more natural look. Often black is too harsh.

If you like, you can collapse the style layers by clicking on the triangle on the Greenspace layer.

Creating the Project Text Clipping mask

40. Make the Background layer the active layer.
41. Open project_text.psd. This contains text with which you'll create one more clipping mask.
42. Hold down the Shift key and drag the Project layer into layers_project.psd. Close project_text.psd.
43. Use the Move tool with the Shift key and drag the text down below the Greenspace text.
44. Duplicate the Background layer.
45. Drag the Project layer below the Background copy layer in the layer list.
46. Convert the two layers into a clipping mask.
47. Save your file.

At this point, the text will seem to have disappeared. That's because the image showing through the Project text is a copy of the Background layer and it blends into the background. Once we add some layer styles, the text will stand out. The image to the right is what the Layers panel looks like. The layer styles on the Greenspace layer have been collapsed.

Adding Layer Styles to the Project Text

48. Click on the Project base layer. Click the Add Layer Style button in the Layers panel and choose Colour Overlay in the pop-up menu.
49. In the Layer Styles dialog for Colour Overlay, set Colour to black and set the Opacity to 25%.
50. Click on Bevel and Emboss and match your settings to the ones below.

51. Click on the Contour style and choose the contour shape shown here from the pop-up menu that appears when you click on the black triangle.
    
52. Click OK to exit from the Layer Styles dialog.
53. Save your file. The final Layers panel should look something like this:

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Photoshop - TOC - Introduction - Books -
Layers - Links - Questions -
1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - A - B - C - [ D ] -

Photoshop - TOC - Introduction - Books -
Layers - Links - Questions -
1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - A - B - C - [ D ] -