Photoshop Elements 4: The Missing Manual

Layer

The Layer menu contains commands for creating and managing Layers. (Chapter 6 is all about Layers.) This is the most dynamic menu in Elements—what you see at the bottom of the menu changes very much depending on the layers you have and the characteristics of the active layer. This is a basic rundown of the main menu options you'll usually see if your open image has only a Background layer. (Sometimes you'll see choices visible but grayed out.) The choices for merging and combining layers change the most as your layers change.

New

This is where you create new, regular (as opposed to Adjustment) layers. You can create a new:

• Layer. Press Shift+Ctrl+N to do this from the keyboard.

• Layer from Background.

• Layer via Copy. Ctrl+J is the keyboard equivalent.

• Layer via Cut. Press Shift+Ctrl+J to do this from the keyboard.

If your image doesn't currently have a Background layer you also see "Background from Layer."

Duplicate Layer

This command makes a duplicate of the active layer. As long as you don't have a selection, you can also use Ctrl+J to do the same thing.

Delete Layer

If you want to eliminate a layer, click it in the Layers palette to make it the active layer and choose this command.

Rename Layer

Choose this to rename a layer. You can also double-click the layer's name in the Layers palette.

Layer Style

If a layer has a Layer style applied to it (see Section 12.2.1), you can adjust it here:

• Style Settings brings up the dialog box where you can adjust some of the settings of a Layer ...