Operation Manual

320

Layers

Last updated 9/13/2015

Specify the opacity of a layer

1 Select the layer in the Layers panel.

2 In the Layers panel, enter a value between 0 and 100 for Opacity, or click the arrow at the right of the Opacity box

and drag the Opacity slider that appears.

Specify a blending mode for a layer

1 Select a layer that you have added, in the Layers panel.

2 Choose an option from the Blending Mode menu.

(Windows) Immediately after you choose a blending mode, you can press the up or down arrows on your keyboard

to try other blending mode options in the menu.

Select all opaque areas in a layer

You can quickly select all the opaque areas in a layer. This procedure is useful when you want to exclude transparent

areas from a selection.

1 In the Layers panel, Ctrl-click (Command-click in Mac OS) the layer thumbnail:

2 To add the pixels to an existing selection, press Ctrl+Shift (Command+Shift in Mac OS) and click the layer

thumbnail in the Layers panel.

3 To remove the pixels from an existing selection, press Ctrl+Alt (Command+Option in Mac OS) and click the layer

thumbnail in the Layers panel.

4 To load the intersection of the pixels and an existing selection, press Ctrl+Alt+Shift (Command+Option+Shift in

Mac OS) and click the layer thumbnail in the Layers panel.

Customize the transparency grid

The checkerboard grid identifies transparency in a layer. You can change the appearance of this grid; however, do not

change it to solid white because you’ll eliminate the visual distinction between opaque (white) and transparent

(checkerboard).

1 In Windows, choose Edit > Preferences > Transparency. In Mac, choose Photoshop Elements > Preferences >

Transparency.

2 Choose a pattern size from the Grid Size menu.

3 Choose a pattern color from the Grid Colors menu. To choose a custom color instead, click one of the two boxes

below the Grid Colors menu and select a color from the Color Picker.