How to detach a layer in Photoshop. Dividing the image into separate parts. Where are the layers in Photoshop?

Instructions

If you are working on a complex layered composition, it will take up quite a lot of disk space. When you try to send a file in the .psd format over the network, you will notice that it will "eat" a fair amount of traffic, and it will take a very long time to load. To reduce the file size after the work on the picture is completely finished, you can all layers into one. Select Layer and Flatten Image from the main menu.

Now let's get down to the actual blending methods. On the right side of the Layers menu, there is a box where you see “normal” or “normal”. All blend modes of layers are located in this window. We will find the desired option by selection. It should be noted that the “normal” mode is the normal one, and nothing changes in this mode. In other modes, a lot of interesting things happen. Try all modes to see which one works best for your photo. Don't forget to adjust the opacity and fill of the layer: sometimes you need to loosen them to get the best effect.

Recently, when processing photos and creating new interesting photographic images, it is increasingly necessary to turn to the Adobe Photoshop program. When opening different photographs and pictures, it is important to remember that each of them is a separate layer. By superimposing them on top of each other, processing and editing on one open sheet, each creates its own unique image. To create a complete image of the image, the layers need to be merged.

Instructions

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note

It should be remembered that when merging the visible layers, all invisible ones are removed, and the transparent places are filled with white. Once you save such an image, you will no longer be able to edit it. Therefore, we recommend, just in case, to save a copy of the image before merging the layers.

The large number of layers that arise in the process of creating a complex composition in Adobe Photoshop is sometimes a big hindrance to the designer. This leads to a decrease in the productivity of his work, because it is easy to get confused in them. In addition, a large number of layers increases the size of the file, which requires additional computer resources, which, at times, are already sorely lacking. Rescue in situations of this kind is the operation of merging together those layers of the composition, the work on which has already been completed.

Instructions

First of all, it must be remembered that as the creation of each new layer expands the possibilities for working with the image, so destruction and merging of several layers irrevocably deprives you of certain possibilities: independent editing of fragments or individual parameters of each layer now becomes impossible. Therefore, each time carrying out such an operation, the designer must be 100% sure that he has finished over each of the merged layers, and in the future he will not have to spend time again to re-divide or re-render the merged layers, even though sometimes technically it is it is already impossible to carry out in any way.

Nevertheless, if the operation still needs to be performed, the Photoshop program provides several ways to implement it. The differences between these methods are mainly in how the layers to be merged can be selected. In the most general form, the operation is carried out as follows: in the list of layers, two or more lines with the names of the layers are highlighted. For selection, the standard, accepted in most interfaces, are used, the Ctrl keys - to add or remove single layers from the selection, or Shift - to select a set of elements when pointing to the first and last in their row. Having selected several lines with layers, through the context menu (it is called by clicking on the right mouse button) or through the main Layer menu, select the Merge Layers command. As a result, instead of several layers, those that were marked in the list, one will appear - the product of the merging of the original ones.

You can deliberately not select in the list of layers, but merge directly what is now in the workspace of the composition. That is, if any layers in the composition are turned off (the icon with a symbolic image of an eye opposite these layers is off, that is, they are not visible at the moment), then after the merge operation they will remain intact, each will continue to remain in its place in the list of layers. Sometimes this is convenient because the designer has a visual confirmation of which layers will now be merged - exactly those that are directly in front of his gaze. In this case, any of these layers can be selected in the list of layers, and an adjacent command from the same menu can be applied - Merge Visible.

If the layers were collected in a group, then for this case, the Photoshop program has a convenient function - you can convert the entire group into a single layer. Thus, all layers inside the group folder will be merged without any additional manipulations: select the required group in the list of layers and use the Merge Group command from the context menu. The group disappears, and a new layer appears in its place in the layer list, containing the result of merging the contents of the former group.

There is also the most radical way to merge layers in Photoshop - this is the Flatten Image command. The use of this command, frankly, is rarely justified. It explicitly destroys all the technical stages of working on an image - layers, masks, transparency parameters, etc. Why should a designer destroy all his technical developments, on which hours of work with a specific image were spent - remains a mystery. Unless the task was very simple, the operations were elementary and, in fact, no technical constructions were carried out. In all other cases, the Flatten Image operation is, frankly, monstrous. For some reason, many novice designers believe that it is absolutely necessary in order to save the final file with a single image without layers, but they are wrong. The Photoshop program has a Save As command, when selected, the user has an additional setting option, where you can specify whether to save information about layers to a file or not. Thus, it is simpler to save a "light" file intended for exchange with a customer or transfer over the network (usually a JPEG file), without doing any special merging of the layers of the original composition. The file with all the layers and settings in the "native" Photoshop format (PSD) must be saved separately, because, as experience shows, sooner or later you have to go back to editing an image, especially when it comes to a complex composition, even after how the customer was satisfied and the work is officially accepted. The most offensive thing in such situations is that the designer pays with his expensive time for his own arrogance: if he hadn’t clicked the once notorious Flatten Image, and a new fix would take only a few minutes, after merging all the layers, he would have to do hard labor again, count from scratch.

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While working in Photoshop, a very large number of layers can accumulate. Some of them are already fully worked out and only create mass, interfering with work. You need to get rid of extra layers. But how, after all, you cannot delete them? But you can combine them or mix them.

You will need

• Photoshop, picture, divided into layers.

Instructions

In the illustration, you can see that it is split into layers that are not merged with each other. All of them are named in accordance with the elements that are depicted on them. Each of the layers can be adjusted and moved independently of the others. Those. right hand, for example, you can in another place, redraw it, add an effect, recolor. And all this will not in any way affect other parts of the body of our "girl".

But if you have already finished all the parts of the head to perfection, there is no point in keeping them on separate layers. Let's merge the layers we need. Arrange all the pieces in their places. Hold down the Ctrl key and select all the layers you need to merge (in our case, these are the mouth, eyes, and head). Now click on any of them with the right mouse button. A menu will appear, in which at the very bottom you must select the "Merge layers" item. Now the head and everything related to it have united and become one element. Rename this layer and name it "head". This is the first way to combine layers.

Now you can go the other way. This time it is necessary to combine a sundress, arms and legs, i.e. create a torso. Turn off the "head" and "background" layers by removing the eye from the window next to the layer. Click on one of the visible layers with the right mouse button and select the menu item "Merge visible". Those layers that have not been disabled will merge into one. Name this layer “torso”.

The last method remains, it is called "Mixing". It is used as the very last step in working with an image. Rollup brings all layers in a document together and freezes them. Turn on the "head" and "background" layers. Right-click on any layer and choose Flatten from the menu that appears. All parts of the image are now connected. This is necessary to reduce the weight of the psd file.

Helpful advice

Do not merge layers if there is a chance you may need them separately.

With the help of the graphics editor Adobe Photoshop, you can create the most incredible visual effects and change familiar photos and images beyond recognition. In particular, in Photoshop, you can overlay one image on another, as a result of which you can achieve unusual and original effects on the image. You can superimpose two pictures on top of each other in a short amount of time using different opacity and layer blending options.

Instructions

If you need to merge layers that are not adjacent, then first select all of them - click and click while holding down the CTRL key. Then right-click any of the selected layers. In the context menu, select the Merge Layers command. Pressing the hotkeys CTRL + E will perform the same operation.

To leave only one layer in the document, including all the visible ones, right-click any of the layers except the text layer. Select the line "Roll up" in the context menu. If the document contains invisible layers, the editor will ask for confirmation - it will show a dialog box with the question "Delete hidden layers?". Click "Yes" and all visible layers of the document will be merged into one, and the invisible ones will be destroyed.

You can link layers without merging them into one. After such an operation, any actions with any of the layers of the bundle will be broadcast to all the others. To link layers in this way, select any of them, and click the rest with the left mouse button to the right of the layer thumbnail - an icon of several chain links will appear in this place. The same can be done differently: select all the layers you need by clicking them with the mouse while holding down the CTRL key, and then click the leftmost icon ("Link layers") in the row at the bottom edge of the layers palette - it shows the chain links.

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Those who are familiar with the Adobe Photoshop software suite know firsthand that to create truly interesting artwork, you need to be able to handle image layers. Now we will focus on the layer blending operation.

Instructions

Start simple. In order to learn how to work with layers, do not try to process a large number of them at once - this can easily get confused and lose interest. For the entry level, it will be enough to consider the principles of work on the basis of two or three layers. With an increase in their number, they will not change.

Use the same width and height for the processed images. For example, use images that are 600 pixels in size and 800 in length. Thus, they will completely overlap - without gaps and unnecessary overlaps.

Create a new file from the Adobe Photoshop menu by choosing File - New. In the window that appears, set the size of the image and click the "Ok" button.

In the tool column on the left, specify the colors based on which the "Clouds" filter will work. An example is shown in the figure.

Use the menu items "Filter" - "Render" - "Clouds". If the initial version does not suit you, then you can press the Ctrl + F combination several times until you get the desired result. As a result, you should get something similar to what is shown in the picture.

Load any finished image by selecting such menu items as "File" - "Open" by selecting the desired image. As a result, both pictures should be open in the program window.

Select the window with the first image (clouds) and right-click on it. In the menu that appears, use the item "Duplicate layer", thereby creating a copy of this picture as a layer. Then in the toolbar on the right you will find a new layer "Background copy".

Press the "V" key, activating the tool for moving layers (looks like a black cursor on the left toolbar). Next, hover your mouse over a new layer located on the right toolbar. This will change the mouse cursor to a schematic representation of a hand.

Drag the layer onto the open image so that the "clouds" completely cover the original image.

Use the menu item "Layers" (bottom right toolbar), calling the drop-down list of all possible options for mixing layers.

See what you get. In the provided variant, such a blending option as "Overlay" was used.

If any element in the project, for example, a beautifully designed inscription, thanks to your efforts, has taken the desired shape, you can combine the components of this element (layers) into a single whole. Adobe Photoshop has the necessary tools for this.

Instructions

Open the program and create a new document in it: click the File menu item (in the Russian version "File")> New ("New"), or use the shortcut keys Ctrl + N. In the window that appears, in the Height and Width fields, specify, for example, 500 each, in the Background contents field, set Transparent and click OK. A new project window will appear in the workspace of the program.

How to create a new layer in Photoshop: overlay and join, remove and resize

From the usual graphic editor (Paint and others), Adobe Photoshop differs in the ability to work with layers. This allows you to edit this or that applied effect at any time. Also, it is impossible to imagine working on creating vector logos without layers.

Create a new layer in Photoshop

If you install the very first version of Photoshop now, you will be very surprised at it. Where are the layers in Photoshop, you ask? The first versions of the graphics editor differed little from modern Paint. Layer support came a little later. Now, no professional image editor can do without this function. In Photoshop, you can freely create up to a thousand layers, this will not affect the speed of work in any way. But this is already an extreme case; in practice, photographers use no more than 20-30 layers.

The essence of the layer is very simple. It contains some kind of filter or mask, as well as the effect of using a certain tool. For example, you inserted a new picture into an image. It will appear on a new layer. As a result, you can add a stroke to it, change the size of the picture, and also set one or another degree of transparency. At any time, you can change the size of the layer in Photoshop, even if a lot of time has passed since the previous work with it. This is what layers are useful for. Without them, many operations would have to be undone to be able to resize the inserted image again.

The corresponding panel is intended for working with layers. It is recommended to keep it open at all times. Displaying an image in Photoshop is as follows. First, the top layer is displayed, then the second, third, and so on. As an analogue, you can bring a pack of paper sheets. First you see the first sheet, it overlaps all the others. The situation is similar with layers. The first will overlap the second, unless its full or partial transparency is set.

Where are the layers in Photoshop?

The Layers panel is something you'll encounter on a regular basis while working in Photoshop. Therefore, you should be aware of all the functions that it is capable of providing. At the top of this panel there are buttons that allow you to display only layers of one type or another. For example, these can be adjustment layers or text layers. This filter is disabled by default.

How to make a layer transparent in Photoshop

Next is the line needed to create the overlay effect. This allows you to subtract black or white from the layer, and create other effects. Overlaying layers in Photoshop can be completely wild or very ordinary. Also, this is where you can set the degree of opacity. By default, each layer is made completely opaque. If you want to make the layer transparent in Photoshop, then this point will come to the rescue. Don't forget to select the desired layer before doing this.

The third line of the Layers panel contains the docking tools. If you want to fix the position of the layer or its transparency, this is the place for you. Also in this line there is an item "Fill", the effect of which is similar to the opacity function.

The rest of the panel area is highlighted for the list of layers. If special effects are applied to some of them, their list will also be located here. At the very bottom there are special buttons, with the help of which you can work with layers in Photoshop (its main part).

How to remove a layer in Photoshop

Some novice users do not understand how to make layers in Photoshop. Therefore, they most often do photo retouching on a single layer, unless one was created automatically after using a particular tool. For example, the Type tool immediately creates a new layer. The images pasted from the clipboard will automatically be added to the new layer.
If you want to create a new layer yourself in Photoshop - there is nothing difficult about it. To do this, use the corresponding button at the bottom of the "Layers" panel. The created layer will be placed above the selected layer. For example, you might have the sixth layer selected. In this case, the beginner will take his place, and the previous layer will move to the seventh position. This must be taken into account when creating multi-layered compositions.

On a new layer, you can do whatever you want. On it you can use the fill, draw any shape or perform other actions. If your image turns out to be multi-layered, then it doesn't hurt to give the new layer your own name. Otherwise it will be called “Layer 7”. To rename, double-click on the layer with the left mouse button.

You can also group layers. Create a new folder using the corresponding button at the bottom of the Layers panel. Then, using the drag-and-drop method, transfer the layers that you want to combine into one group into it. In multi-layered compositions, you cannot do without this, otherwise real confusion begins.

Some layers become unnecessary to us during the creation of the image. It is recommended to delete them. To do this, select the layer and press the "Delete" key. You can also drag the layer to the button with the trash can at the bottom of the panel. You can remove the layer in Photoshop in another way. Each layer has a button with an eye. Click it - the visibility of the layer will turn off immediately. This is a kind of analogue of zero opacity. At the same time, the layer itself from the panel will not go anywhere, you can turn on its display at any time.

How to Connect: Blending Layers in Photoshop

If your image already has a lot of layers, then some of them can be merged. Let's take two layers as an example, each of which contains one small picture. If you combine them, you won't be able to move the two pictures separately. Now they will only move in space together with each other.
To connect layers in Photoshop, you must first select them. This is done by clicking the left mouse button while holding down the "Ctrl" key. After selection, right-click. In the displayed context menu, select the "Merge Layers" item.

Resize layer in Photoshop

A little higher in the same context menu, you will find the "Link layers" item. It is similar to the previous one. But when you select it, both layers remain in the panel in their place. A hitch icon appears next to them. It also won't let you resize these layers or move them individually. But at any time you can undo the link, while with the merged layers you cannot do this.

Conclusion
Working with layers in Photoshop is very simple. As soon as you spend a few minutes exploring the Layers panel, you will forever fall in love with the functionality it provides. Any complex image must be multi-layered, otherwise you will spend too much time creating it.

To merge all visible layers, click Ctrl + Shift + E, or right-click on any layer -> Merge Visible. The resulting layer will be positioned in place of the lower visible layer and will take its name. If there was a background layer in the layers panel, then the visible layers will be merged into the background. Layers with disabled visibility will remain intact.

Important! When merging visible layers, it is necessary that one or several of the visible layers are selected, or none of them are selected.

In the layers panel, the visible layers are "Background copy 3", "Background copy 5" and "Background copy 7", none of the layers selected. The resulting layer is "Background copy 7"

4. Merge all layers of the stack to form a new layer.

With this type of merging of layers, one new layer is created from all layers in the stack, located at the very top of the stack, and at the same time all other layers (which were in the stack before the merge) remain intact. For such a combination, press the keys Ctrl + Shift + Alt + E... You can also hold Alt, right-click on any layer and click on the "Merge Visible" line.
Attention! The background layer is also involved in the merging!

All layers, including the background, have been merged into a new layer, automatically named "Layer 1". The original layers remain unchanged.

5. Merging layers into a smart object

Hold down Ctrl and select the layers you want. Then right-click on any of the selected layers and in the context menu that opens, click on the "Convert to Smart Objects" item.

In the layers panel, the layers - "Background copy 3", "Background copy 5" and "Background copy 7" were converted into a smart object (Photoshop automatically named it "Background copy 7"), in the picture in the panel on the right, the smart object is marked with in the lower right corner of the layer thumbnail.

Combining layers by grouping them

Combining layers by grouping them is not any independent way to combine layers. This method is useful when you are working with a complex document with many layers and you need to combine a large number of certain layers.
First, you need to select the layers by holding down the Ctrl key and clicking on the required layers. Then press Ctrl + G to group them. In this case, grouping is needed so that you make sure that the group contains exactly those layers that are needed, if not, then you can always delete or add layers from / to the group. In other words, you are just unnecessary checking that the correct layers are selected before merging them.
Then, you need to right click on the group and click on the "Merge Group" line.

Once again, I draw your attention to the fact that these methods (except for merging into a smart object) are suitable for layers with a normal blending mode. If the blending modes are changed, then the result of the merge may differ from the expected, i.e. the image in the document can change, and the changes can be both minor and dramatic. To avoid such problems and simply improve your Photoshop knowledge, read the article "Combining layers with different blend modes in Photoshop".

Dividing photos into several parts may be necessary in different situations, from the need to use only one fragment of the image to composing large compositions (collages).

This tutorial will be completely hands-on. In it we will split one photo into parts and create a kind of collage. We will compose the collage only in order to practice the processing of individual fragments of the image.

Splitting a photo into parts

1. Open the required photo in Photoshop and create a copy of the background layer. It is this copy that we will cut.

2. The guides will help us to cut the photo into four equal parts. To set, for example, a vertical line, you need to grab the ruler on the left and pull the guide to the right to the middle of the canvas. A horizontal guide extends from the top ruler.

Advice:
If you do not have rulers displayed, then you need to enable them with a keyboard shortcut CTRL + R;
In order for the guides to "stick" to the center of the canvas, you need to go to the menu "View - Snap to ..." and put all the jackdaws. You also need to put a daw in front of the item "Snap";

Hide guides with keyboard shortcut CTRL + H.

3. Choosing a tool "Rectangular area" and select one of the fragments, limited by the guides.

4. Press the keyboard shortcut CTRL + J by copying the selection to a new layer.

5. Since the program automatically activates the newly created layer, go back to the background copy and repeat the action with the second fragment.

6. Do the same with the remaining fragments. Our layers panel will look like this:

7. Let's delete the fragment, which shows only the sky and the top of the tower, for our purposes it is not suitable. Select the layer and click DEL.

8. Go to any layer with a fragment and click CTRL + T by calling the function "Free transformation"... Move, rotate and reduce the fragment. When finished, click OK.

9. Apply several styles to the fragment, for this, double-click on the layer to open the settings window, and go to the item "Stroke"... Stroke position - inside, color - white, size 8 pixels.

Then we apply a shadow. The shadow offset should be zero, the size should be according to the situation.

10. Repeat the steps with the rest of the photo fragments. It is better to arrange them in a chaotic order, so the composition will look organic.

Since the lesson is not about making collages, we will stop there. We learned how to cut photos into fragments and process them separately. If you are interested in creating collages, then be sure to study the techniques described in the lesson, the link to which is at the beginning of the article.

We considered the main features of the PNG format, now we will use them to optimize images.

Let's start with the simplest way - posterizing an image. In a complicated language, posterization is a change in the number of brightness levels in each color channel of an image, in simple terms - a change in the number of colors.

Open the test image (PNG, 12 KB) in Photoshop and call Image → Adjustments → Posterize. Move the slider to see how the image changes:

It is easy to see that the lower the level, the fewer colors in the image and the larger the monochrome areas. And the less the image weighs due to the fact that large monochrome areas are better filtered and packed. This method is especially effective on photographic images where the posterized areas are not very noticeable.

The next method is a little more complicated, it is used in images with semi-transparent areas. Its essence is as follows: all opaque pixels are saved in one PNG-8 file, and semitransparent ones in another. You can see this method in action in Volodya Tokmakov's article, I will only show you how you can quickly separate translucent pixels from opaque ones.

Take this image (PNG, 62KB) as an example:

We open it in Photoshop. It should be remembered that the entire image to be divided must be in one layer, so if your image consists of several layers (shadows, reflections, highlights, etc.), they must first be combined into one layer.

First you need to select an object in a layer, for this we Ctrl-click (or ⌘-click on a Mac) on the image in the Layers palette:

Go to the Channels palette and create a new channel from the selection by clicking on the corresponding icon:

Unselect (Ctrl-D or ⌘-D), select the newly created channel and call the Threshold command (Image → Adjustments → Threshold). Drag the slider to the extreme right position:

We got a mask to select absolutely opaque pixels. It remains to load the selection (Ctrl-click / ⌘-click on the image of the Alpha 1 channel), go to the Layers palette, select the layer with the image and execute the command Layer → New → Layer via Cut. It turned out two layers: one with opaque pixels, the other with translucent pixels.

The disadvantage of this method is that the result is 2 images that are not always convenient to use (for example, when creating a product catalog). In the next article I will consider a rather complex and not so universal optimization method, but its advantage is that the output will only be one file.