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Access the Layers' window. If your Layer window is not open yet, go to window/ Show Layers; This will open the Layers' window. When working with Photoshop, layers is one of the first steps you should get familiar with . Extra tip: to avoid having you working area cluttered, you can have most of the windows (e.g Layers, Channels, Action, ect...) grouped as shown aside. To do so, click on the tab of one of the window and drag it to another window. Create a New Layer. To create a new layer you can click on the arrow located at the top right corner of the Layers' window and choose New Layer.... You can also click on the page icon at the bottom of the layers' window. Duplicate a Layer. To duplicate a layer just click and drag the layer to the icon seen in create a new layer. You can also use the arrow located at the top right corner of the Layers' window. Delete a Layer. To delete a layer drag the layer to the trash icon right next to the page icon, or you can use the arrow at the top right corner. Load layer selection. To do so, hold the ctrl key and click on the channel. This with load the selection of the layer the mouse cursor is over. To load a layer selection, the layer doesn't have to be selected. If you want to add another selection to the one you just selected, hold the ctrl key and shift key while you click on the layer you want.  This will add the selection of another layer to your previous layer's selection.Linking Layers click on the empty box next to the layer you want to link. Merging Layers You can merge layer down. To do so, you can use the shortcut key ctrl – E. This will merge the layer selected to the layer below it. To use this option the layer selected cannot be linked to any other layers, otherwise the linked layer will merge together. When you are ready to save transparent images, use the Merge Visible option. That way the image you want to save will be on only one layer as shown on the fourth image. View / Hide Layers To hide a layer click on the eye icon next to the layer you want to hide. Select a Layer To select a layer just click on it it should turn another color. In this example my color is blue. |