Adobe® Photoshop® CS2 Studio Techniques

Creating Layers

Photoshop will automatically create the majority of the layers you'll need. A new layer is added anytime you copy and paste an image or drag a layer between documents (we'll talk about this later in the chapter). If you're starting from scratch, however, you can click the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette to create a new, empty layer.

If you hold the Command key (Mac) or Ctrl key (Windows) when clicking the New Layer icon, the new layer will appear below the active layer instead of on top of it. The only time that won't work is when the Background is active—Photoshop can't add a new layer below the Background. ...