Layering in Photoshop

buddugan · Nov 27, 2006

Hi. I am a noob at Adobe Photoshop, but heard it was good, so got it on Black Friday. I have had art class in the past and remember using layers by going from front to back, which is what I'm trying to do with Photoshop. Lets say I just pick any picture, perhaps one simple scene of a person at the beach . Since the person is a layer herself, can I crop it easily and copy it for another picture? Or do I have to use the infamous magic wand? Thanks in advance. -Bud

http://www.north-topsail-beach.org/images/seagulls.jpg

astrostu · Nov 27, 2006

Yes. I'm not completely certain what you're trying to do, but from what I think you're asking, yes. Just try it.

Digital Matt · Nov 27, 2006

The person is not on a layer by herself unless you cut her out. If you just open a picture, a jpg, it's going to be flattened to 1 layer, a background layer, containing all the elements of the photo. It's your job to seperate them, if that's what you desire. There are much better methods than using the lasso tool, but that is essentially what you'd have to do, yes.

Garbz · Nov 27, 2006

If I understand the question correctly then no. A jpeg is a single flat layer. The layers in photoshop are made while working with images, and can be retained only if you save in PSP or another layering format. As soon as you go back to standard jpeg you loose the layering.

With the example above if I open that image I have one layer called background. I can magic wand the girl, click edit copy, and edit paste, and the image will look like nothing has changed. That is however because the girl was pasted exactly over the top of herself, the difference is now she's on her own layer. I can move her around change her colour and adjust all settings of the girl now independantly without having to use the magic wand again, amongst other far more powerful options.

buddugan · Nov 27, 2006

What if I converterd the picture? Will a different format like .bmp or something else work?

ironsidephoto · Nov 27, 2006

once you've been working with layers and have composed an image you like, you can go to layers>flatten image and then save it as a jpeg.
also, i'd zoom in and use the polygonal lasso before i'd ever use the magic wand.

buddugan · Nov 27, 2006

ironsidephoto said:
once you've been working with layers and have composed an image you like, you can go to layers>flatten image and then save it as a jpeg.
also, i'd zoom in and use the polygonal lasso before i'd ever use the magic wand.

I'm really sorry but before Photoshop I only used Paint that came with the pc. I am a little confused. So I should use the format .bmp, and use the lasso? So the girl wouldn't be able to come out at all? Whatever format the picture is?

Johnboy2978 · Nov 27, 2006

regardless of what you would convert this image to, it currently is a single layer. If you want to 'cut' her out and insert her into another image, I would enlarge the image to like 200% in photoshop then use the lasso tool to select her and remove her gently. I might actually take a pixel or 2 around her as well, then erase it after you have inserted her into another image. When you paste her to another image, then you will have 2 layers. You will have her as a layer, and the other image as the background. Then when all is done, you can flatten the layers and save it as whatever type you want, but after saving it will again be 1 layer.

make sense?