13/9/2019 3 Good Reasons to Use Layers in Photoshop

3 Good Reasons to Use Layers in

Photoshop
A Post By: Sarah Hipwell

1.9K 2

If you shoot RAW, in general, you will be editing those les in Adobe Camera Raw
(ACR), Lightroom or some other RAW editor. This may be all the post editing that
you require. However, if you are like me, I nish my editing in Photoshop. Why?
Because I use layers and they play an essential part of my work ow.

Layers are de nitely where the real magic in Photoshop happens. They were
introduced way back in version 3.0. I am a long-time user of Photoshop, so using
layers in my work ow is second nature.

How do layers work?

In Photoshop, there are many types of layers. You can add text to your image using
a Type Layer. You can duplicate any type of layer. By using a Layer Style, you can
add a drop shadow or other e ects to your photo. For example, you may want to
color correct a portrait image by using a Curves Adjustment Layer.

In this article, I’ll give a brief overview of how layers work and go on to explain why
I use the following go-to in my work ow:

1. Adjustment Layers for non-destructive editing

2. Layer Masks

3. Smart Objects

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The Layers Panel

Let’s go over to the Layers Panel and I’ll walk you through how layers work. Here is
an example of a simple vector image of a mountain range with a sunset. There are
six layers stacked on top of one another, that make up the nal image. By clicking
on the eye icon, you can turn the visibility of each layer o and on.

Di erent layer types in Photoshop

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Six layers stacked on top of each other to form a picture in Photoshop

However, in Photoshop, you can do a lot more with layers. You can delete a layer
by clicking on it and dragging it to the little trash can at the bottom of the panel.
You can also duplicate a layer by dragging it down to the icon beside the trash can,
which creates a copy of that layer. A layer can be moved by clicking on it and
dragging it up or down the stack. You can reduce the opacity of a layer, thereby
allowing some or all of the image layer underneath to show through, depending on
how much you reduce the opacity.
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Duplicate and delete layers in the Layers Panel using

the tools circled in red.

#1 – Adjustment Layers
Without a doubt, when Adjustment Layers were introduced into Photoshop 4.0 it
meant that users could unleash the magic of Photoshop by editing non-
destructively. Prior to this, you had to duplicate the image rst to preserve the
original, as edits were permanently made to the layer. Adjustment Laters are key in
any photographer’s work ow.

As a precautionary note, Adjustments under Image in the Options Bar is not the
same as creating an Adjustment Layer via Layer>New Adjustment Layer. The
former will apply edits directly to the layer that you are working on, where as an
Adjustment Layer adds a layer above the working one. These edits can be redone
or discarded without altering the pixels of your original image.

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Applying edits through Image>Adjustments will a ect the image

permanently.

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Working non-destructively by adding a New Adjustment Layer via the Layer

tab in the Options Bar.

Adjustments Panel
As with the Layers Panel, the Adjustment Layers has its very own panel too. The
icons represent the 16 di erent layer adjustments available in Photoshop. Some
are used more than others. Adjustment layers apply the correction to all the layers
below them, without a ecting any of the layers above.

Adjustment Layers has its

own panel with 16 icons
representing the di erent
options.

Once I do my initial edits in ACR, I’ll nish o my post-processing in Photoshop

using Adjustment layers. I like to use Levels, Curves and Selective Color & LUTs to
add the necessary contrast and color corrections. As each Adjustment Layer is
used and stacked on top of each other, it is essential to reduce the opacity of each
layer.

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How Adjustments Layers can add color correction and bring out the details
in the image in a non-destructive way

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13/9/2019 3 Good Reasons to Use Layers in Photoshop

Di erent Adjustment Layers such as Levels, Curves

and Selective Color were used on this image.

What about areas of your image that don’t require the same amount of editing as
other parts?

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13/9/2019 3 Good Reasons to Use Layers in Photoshop

#2 – Layer Masks
When adding an Adjustment Layer in Photoshop, it applies the adjustment to the
whole image. But, sometimes you need to make adjustments to only one area or
separate parts of an image. This is where Layer Masks come in handy. When you
add a new Adjustment Layer, it automatically adds a white Layer Mask (white
reveals and black conceals).

For example, in the image of the waterfall, it was necessary for me to mask the
water with each adjustment layer, otherwise, the highlights would have been
blown out.

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The water in the image on the left has not had masks applied when global
edits were added using Adjustment Layers. Masks were used on the water
in the image on the right to preserve the highlights.

In the following image of this landscape in the Dublin mountains, the day was quite
overcast. I wasn’t happy with the sky, so I decided to try a di erent one. By using
the Layer masks, I was able to mask out the original sky. I used the Pen Tool for
this but you can use the Brush or the Quick Selection Tool and then ll the area
with black.

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 

Layer mask applied to hide the original sky and reveal the new sky from the
layer beneath.

The new sky image underneath was put under this layer so that it showed through
the mask, similar to a cut-out. I then added more Adjustment Layers to color
correct the image so that the new sky looked seamless.

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An animated gif to demonstrate the Adjustment Layers to color correct the

image and by adding a layer mask to reveal a di erent sky to the original
overcast one.

#3 – Smart Objects
Adobe really de nes Smart Objects in a neat nutshell. Smart Objects preserve an
image’s source content with all its original characteristics, enabling you to perform
nondestructive editing to the layer.

So for photographers, this is fantastic news. Now, when you apply edits to a layer
that is a Smart Object, you can transform, scale, rotate, warp, apply lters or layer
masks. The quality of the image will not be degraded even though it is a raster
image!

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An image layer converted to a

Smart Object

So how do you convert an image to a Smart Object? It is simple, right click on the
layer and select Convert to a Smart Object. You will see a small icon on the
thumbnail image that tells you that the layer is now a Smart Object.

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Right click on the layer to reveal a drop-down menu and select Convert to a
Smart Object.

If you edit your images in Camera Raw, you can then export the image into
Photoshop as a Smart Object. Hold the Shift key and the Open Image button turns
to Open Object. This means that at a later date, you can return to Camera Raw to
re-edit by double clicking on the layer thumbnail.

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How to set the default in Camera Raw for images to be exported to

Photoshop as Smart Objects.

Alternatively, when you have the Camera Raw dialog box open, at the bottom there
is what looks like a link on a website. This link actually takes you to the Camera Raw
Work ow Options. You can check the box Open in Photoshop as Smart Objects to
set that as the default in ACR.

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Click the check box in the Camera Raw Work ow Options dialog
box to ensure images are exported out as Smart Objects.

Conclusion
Layers can play an important role in your post-production.

You can separate parts of the image and edit them without a ecting other parts of the
image.

Converting your image layers to a Smart Object allows you to move the new image
around, edit it, and resize it without a ecting the resolution of the original image.

You can add multiple layers on top of each other and put them into groups.

You can apply lters and e ects to layers independently, e.g. drop-shadow, color
adjustments, etc.
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Blend Mode options can change the appearance of each layer

You can reduce the opacity on a layer. This is particularly useful when using Layer
Adjustments to ne-tune the edit to create a subtle e ect.

The main take away from using Layers in Photoshop is that the whole process is
working non-destructively.

Now it’s your turn, do you use layers in your post-production process? What are
your favorite techniques for using layers? Please share your comments below.

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Read more from our Post Production category

Sarah Hipwell is an independent professional photographer based in Dublin. She

specialises in high-quality corporate, stock and portraiture photography. Her
background is in Design. She received her BA in Hons Design from the University of
Ulster, Belfast. She has many years commercial design experience working as a
designer and as a trainer for large multimedia companies. See more of her work at
SarahHipwell.com or at 500px.

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lutayashafiq • 2 years ago

hey
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The Explorographer • a year ago

Students... do NOT...I repeat, do NOT shoot waterfalls on sunny days and you won't need ANY
layers in photoshop.
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