How to Use Layers in Photoshop

The Layers Panel

Window > Layers if you do not see it. Every new document opens with a locked Background layer – double-click it and click OK to unlock it as Layer 0 so it can be moved like anything else. New layers go above the currently selected one, and whatever you paint, paste or heal lands only on the layer you have selected.

Stacking Order of Layers

Drag a layer up or down the panel to change what covers what. Select a layer and the Move tool affects only that layer – with Show Transform Controls checked you get a bounding box for scaling (hold Shift to keep proportions, Enter to commit). If a brush stroke and a cut-out object end up on the same layer, they move together forever; put them on separate layers and each stays independent.

Opacity and Blend Modes for Layers

Opacity simply fades a layer so you can see through it – invaluable while positioning one element over another. The blend mode menu changes how a layer interacts with everything below. The main families: Darken and Multiply only darken; Lighten and Screen only lighten (and are their exact opposites); Overlay and Soft Light blend color and contrast together, with Soft Light gentler; Difference and Exclusion produce inverted, graphic results; and Hue, Saturation, Color and Luminosity pass along only that one property of the layer.

Masks on Layers

Click the mask icon – a rectangle with a circle in it – to add a mask. White reveals, black conceals. Press Ctrl/Cmd + I to invert a mask to black, then paint white with a brush to bring the layer back exactly where you want it. Nothing is deleted; visibility is all you are changing, and you can repaint it endlessly.

Grouping Layers

Shift-click several layers and press Ctrl/Cmd + G to group them. Select the group itself and you can move, scale, fade or mask everything inside as one unit; click a layer within the group to work on it alone. Drag layers in and out of a group freely – and a group takes its own layer mask, which controls everything it contains.

Effects on Layers

The fx button adds live styling – Drop Shadow, Outer Glow, Stroke and more – with controls for opacity, distance, size and color. Effects stay attached to the layer, travel with it when you move it, and can be toggled off at any time.

Layers Quick Reference

• Ctrl/Cmd + J – duplicate a layer (or a selection onto its own layer)
• Ctrl/Cmd + T – transform; hold Shift to keep proportions
• Ctrl/Cmd + G – group; Ctrl/Cmd + I – invert a mask
• Double-click the Background layer to unlock it
• New layer for every new task – that is what makes editing reversible