10 Photoshop Layer Tips you don't know

You may be amazed at what you don't know about Photoshop's layers board. In this article, we'll introduce you to 10 tips on layer editing and management that are very useful to you. These techniques include padding, multiple masks and smart objects, adjustment layers, shortcut keys, advanced blending options, layers palette options, and more. Let's take a look.

1. Fill Opacity

Fill opacity reduces the opacity of one layer's content and does not reduce the visibility of the layer style. Therefore, layer styles such as gradient overlays are best set to overlay mode to keep the layer penetrating.

2. Layer Group shortcut keys

When you have many layer groups in your file and are nested, consider using the following shortcuts to increase your productivity:

· Hold down the CTRL key and click the arrows of the top layer group to turn on/off all top-level layer groups at once.

· Alt-click the layer group arrow to open/close all nested layer groups.

· Press and hold the Ctrl+alt key to open/close all top-level layer groups and all nested layer groups by clicking the arrows of the top layer group.

3. Multi-mask version

Do you know that you can add multiple layer masks on a layer? More precisely, you can achieve your goal by using layer group masks up to 11 pixel masks and 11 vector masks. With these 22 masks, you don't have to create smart objects all the time. Of course, on the same layer you're probably never going to be able to use so many masks, even if you find it useful to split the masks into different parts. The transparent area inside and outside the phone booth below is the use of two separate masks.

4. Quick Select Layer

When you use the Move tool, holding down the CTRL key is equivalent to automatically selecting the Layer feature, and you can even use this feature to make a box selection.

5. Limit adjustment Layer

Use the normal blending mode for a layer group to restrict the adjustment layer's effect on the layer group's content.

6. Mask Layer Style

When a layer applies a layer style, use the advanced blending option to create a mask for a part of the original image. (tick layer/vector mask hidden effect)

7. Nesting Smart Objects

In Photoshop, a smart object is a prerequisite element in a lossless workflow. In addition to saving the original resolution of the layer, the smart object can combine multiple layer elements together to avoid clutter on the layers panel.

8. Remove background with blending options

Have you used the blend color bands in the Layer Style dialog? Maybe you tried, but you know hold down the ALT key to drag the slider to separate the slider? This makes the blending effect smoother, or you can use this feature to remove the background of a solid color.

9. Mix the clip layers into groups

Advanced blending options Another useful feature is that in a clipping mask, you are allowed to use a separate layer blending mode.

10. Cut thumbnails to layer edges

The thumbnail options in the Layers panel can be easily customized at any time. If you want to see only the layer content in the layer thumbnail, you can choose to cut the thumbnail to the layer boundary, or you can choose to cut the thumbnail to the document boundary if you want to see the entire canvas in the layer thumbnail.

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