Layers

In the begining I am going to talk about layers, and masks ( mattes ). Later I will get more into upper level tips and tricks.

I use a PC, so I will be talking in PC, not MAC. I am not bilingual.

I will also be using abbreviated words assuming that you the reader will know what I am talking about.

And lastly, I will also assume that you have a basic understanding of Photoshop. I will be mentioning tools and don't want to take the time to really go into them. This blog is not about those tools.

I will edit in screen captured photos later, so this is going to be a work in progress for some time so keep checking back.

Layers are kind of a paine of glass that can be stacked together, one on top of another.

If you go to your eraser tool and click on the background layer in the layers pallet, and start erasing the pix, you will get a white bg. PS is saying that there is a white peice of paper on the bottom.

If you highlight the the background layer and press the alt button and double click your mouse, that bg layer now is layer 0.

Now when you use your eraser tool on the pix, you get a checkered bg. PS is saying that there is nothing there.

You can blend the layers together with the blending drop down menu in the upper left hand side of the layers pallet.

Differant blending options are available from normal, to screen, to hard, light to multiply. Again, I am not really going to go into these features, but I will be talking about certain funtions in this menu that will affect your image extractions.

If you keep your pix in normal mode, you can use the opacity slider, and it will blend layers together.