Edit an image with ADDED LAYERS AND BLENDING MODES

Layers are one of Photoshop’s most powerful features and essential to editing any image. Layers let you edit nondestructively — that is, work on your images without damaging existing pixels. You can add layers by clicking the New Layer button in the Layers panel or by dragging a layer from another open document; you can also add layers by adding a special type of layer such as a vector layer, type layer, or adjustment layer, or by duplicating another layer. You can even turn on and off the visibility of individual layers to quickly compare your modified image with the original.

 By editing a duplicated layer you avoid changing the original, and by applying adjustment layers you not only preserve the original pixels but also keep the overall file size lower. With multiple layers, you can apply different layer blending modes, which control the way the colors in one layer interact with the rest of the colors in the image, without permanently affecting the original image. In addition, you can change the effects of one layer on another by changing the opacity of any layer, or by clicking and dragging layers into different positions in the Layers panel to change their stacking order.

1 Open an overexposed image. 

Note: This task is intended to help you understand layers. In this example, the exposure in an overexposed photo is adjusted with an adjustment layer and a layer blend mode change. You can accomplish the same effect or the reverse effect in various ways.

2 Click Exposure or another adjustment layer. 

Note: You can select any of the adjustment layers for this task, because you are only using the layer and not actually applying the adjustment.

 A Photoshop places an adjustment layer above the Background layer and opens the Properties panel. 

3 Click here to close the Properties panel if necessary to see the photo. 

4 Click the drop-down menu and change the blend mode to Multiply.

The exposure appears darker.

5 Click and drag the adjustment layer over the New Layer button in the Layers panel.

Photoshop duplicates the layer and the exposure appears even darker.

6 Click Opacity and drag to the left to lower the opacity of the top layer until the photo appears properly exposed.

Note: You can also doubleclick the adjustment layer button, Exposure ( ) in this example, to reopen the Exposure Properties panel and drag the Exposure slider to adjust the image.

The exposure changes.

7 Repeat steps 5 and 6 until the exposure appears correct.

8 Click the eye icon to toggle the visibility of any layer to compare the effect.

TIPS

 Did You Know?
 
Although duplicating the Background layer and changing the blend mode has the same effect as using an adjustment layer, the duplicate Background layer doubles the file size. Adding an adjustment layer with no adjustments and changing the blend mode adds almost nothing to the file size.
 
Try This!
 
With a layer selected, cycle through the blend modes to see which works best. Click the Move tool ( ) and while pressing Shift, press the plus sign key to go down the list or the minus sign key to go up the list.
 
Did You Know?
 
The blend modes are organized by groups according to what they do. The modes in the first group after Normal and Dissolve all darken the image in some way, whereas the modes in the next group all lighten the image. Each mode in the group starting with Overlay varies the contrast of the image in the layer below. The blend modes in the group starting with Difference exaggerate the differences between the images on the two layers, and the modes in the group starting with Hue change the image based on color properties.