How to Use Layers in Adobe Photoshop Elements 2019 Tutorial – Part 2

Watch the Photoshop Elements 2019 training video tutorial for beginners below. We will be discussed about Layers. Learn how to add layers by copying and pasting a selection, as well as how to delete, flatten, link/unlink, merge layer and group layers. If you’re using layers in photoshop, this is Photoshop Elements tutorial is for you.

Welcome back to our course on PSE 2019. It’s time now to learn some more core techniques associated with working with layers in PSE.

In this section, I’m going to introduce you to the Layer contextual menu, then I’ll show you how to copy and paste content between layers. We’ll look at linking and merging layers, at grouping and color coding layers. Then, finally, we’ll look at the Layer menu.

Let’s look first then at the Layer contextual menu. If I right click on the Ramsgill Church text layer on the right there, I’ll see a contextual menu.

You may be a little bit surprised to see that, if I right click on a different layer, say the adjustment layer at the top, I get a different contextual menu. And of course, this reflects the fact that the contextual menu you see depends on the type of layer you’ve selected.

I’m going to concentrate here on two or three common options on contextual menus. One of them at the top there is Rename Layer. If I wanted to rename this particular layer, I’d click on Rename Layer and I can give it an appropriate name.

In this case, I was using it to adjust the hue. So, I could call it something like Hue Adjust. And when you’re dealing with an image with many dozens, possibly even a hundred or two layers having each of the layers named helpfully can really save you a lot of time and head scratching.

Another option, you’ll see in general is Delete Layer. The purpose of that is pretty obvious. In many cases, you will want to delete a layer. In others, you should consider whether it will be better to make a layer invisible.

Maybe a layer that you might reuse later on. Having said that, each layer, if you like, clutters your image up to some extent. So, if you really think you’ve finished with a layer, it will reduce the complexity of your image if you delete any layers that you don’t any longer need.

Another option, you’ll usually see is Flatten Image. So, let’s suppose that I’ve got to this particular point with my Ramsgill Church image with the text on it and I’ve decided that I’ve done everything with that I want to do with it. I’ve pretty much finished with it for now.

I may want to do more to it later but the point I’ve got to is fine. What I can do is to flatten the image. What PSE does, in this case, is to basically combine all of the existing layers into one and to give me a background layer which looks just like that image looks at the moment.

If I click on Flatten Image, now this is important. Note that my adjustment layer is currently hidden. So, if I flatten this I won’t have the effect of that adjustment. If that is indeed what I want and I click on OK then I will see the image with the text but without the hue adjustment. So click on OK. That’s now a single background layer.

Of course, if I have decided I made a mistake, I’ve always got the Revert option. I can also close the image without saving changes. That’s what I’m going to do on this occasion.

What we’re going to do now may well help you if you had trouble with Exercise 09. I’m going to give you a more detailed approach if you like how to solve Exercise 09.

What I’m going to do is to make a copy of this sheep. So, first of all, I’m going to select the sheep. So having made a selection of the sheep, I’m not worried about making it too accurate. What I’m going to do is copy it to the clipboard. I’m going to go over to the Layers panel. The leftmost button there says Create a New Layer.

That’s a standard layer. It’s a layer that will have content in it. If I now make sure that that layer is selected and do a Paste what I will have done is to paste that sheep onto that new layer.

Now, of course, the picture looks the same as it did originally because the new sheep is exactly in front of the original. But if I make the background copy layer invisible you’ll see that Layer 1 contains just the sheep, no grass.

Now, what I’m going to do is to make the background copy layer visible again. I’m going to make sure that Layer 1 is selected, so that’s the newer layer, I’m going to select the Move tool and I’m going to move my newly pasted sheep around. And I’m going to put it just in front of the other one.

Now, I’m going to create another new layer. I’m going to do another paste. This time I’m going to use the keyboard shortcut Control-V. I’ve got the third sheep.

This time, I’m going to go over to the Image menu. I’m going to click on Flip Layer Horizontal. Note that the layer that’s selected is Layer 2. So, if I do a Flip Horizontal that just flips that sheep over. I’ve still got the Move tool selected. So, I may just drag that one over there. I’ve created my little flock of sheep.

As the number of layers starts to build up, as I mentioned before, it’s a good idea to rename accordingly. So, what I’m going to do on this occasion is rename the top two layers.

Note also that whichever layer I select, let’s suppose I select the Sheep 2 layer, that particular sheep you can see has a rectangle bounding box around it with sizing handles.

If I want to make that sheep slightly bigger to allow for perspective and so on, that’s made that one a bit bigger. And then, if I select the Sheep 3 layer, now I may want to make that one a little bit bigger as well.

Also the order of the sheep. If I move Sheep 3 around it will be in front of Sheep 2. And Sheep 2, in turn, is in front of the original sheep which is on the background copy layer. If I drag the Sheep 2 layer up to the top it will now be the front sheep.

For various reasons, it may be that you want to treat two or more layers in some way together. So, for instance, let’s suppose that two of these sheep always move around together. Say the one on the Sheep 2 layer, and the one on the Sheep 3 layer, they always move around together those two.

Now, if you wanted to move the two of them together one way of doing it is to select them both. So, currently, the Sheep 2 layer is selected. If I hold the Control key down and click on Sheep 3, that’s selected as well now. If I click on either sheep to move it around, I’ll move both of them together.

Another way that I can do it is to link the layers. So, with both of them selected, if I right click and click on Link Layers, those two layers are now linked.

You’ll just see that little Link symbol to the left of the thumbnails in the layer tiles is actually enabled. And again now, if I drag either around, I drag them both around. To unlink it’s very straightforward. If I right click there is an Unlink Layers command.

A more permanent way of linking them together, if I click say on Sheep 2 and right click is to click on Merge Down. And that will merge this layer with the layer below it.

The two sheep will finish up on the same layer. Now, as I say this is a more permanent approach and beware because there is not an unmerge command.

So, if you merge those two, you’ll finish up with a single layer with both sheep on it but not a separate independent sheep. What you’ll see on the layer is what you can see there. So one sheep in front, one behind, and the relevant pixels on the layer merged. So you can’t unmerge them again.

Now, let’s move on to something else that happens as you get more complex images. You can get to the point where there are so many layers that it’s becoming a bit of a management headache. Well, you can group layers together and this can make it easier to just identify where things are and deal with groups of objects.

Let’s suppose I want to keep these two sheep on separate layers but I want to introduce a group of shall we say sheep layers. If I select both of those and right-click. One of the options is Group from Layers. I give that group a name.

I’m going to call it Flock. Obviously, ideally, I’d combine the first sheep in as well but let’s just put Flock for now. Choose a color, let’s choose the violet. Click on OK. What I now have in my Layers panel is a special tile. It’s actually a group tile.

You can recognize that by the little icon there with all the pages. It’s the Flock group. Now, if I click on that little wedge to the left of the group icon, I still have access to the two individual layers. I can view them as part of a group of layers.  That’s called the Flock group.

Groups are most commonly used to declutter the Layers panel. If you want to break up a group at any time you have a couple of options. If you right click on the tile for the group in the Layers panel one of the options is to delete the group, which will delete the group and all of the layers in it. You can also just ungroup the layers. It will make each of the layers that are currently in the group independent separate layers again.

Finally, let me just mention that there is a Layer menu in this section. On the Layer menu, you have most of the available options. Including most of the ones that are available on the Layer contextual menu that I showed you earlier on in this section.

That’s the end of this section. I’ll see you in the next one.

Adam Lacey

Adam Lacey is an Excel enthusiast and online learning expert. He combines these two passions at Simon Sez IT where he wears a number of different hats. When Adam isn't fretting about site traffic or Pivot Tables, you'll find him on the tennis court or in the kitchen cooking up a storm.