Technical data

Manipulating Images 31
The text appears (in the foreground color) on a new text layer above the
Background layer that has the photo. The text layer is now the active
layer. Because it’s on a separate layer, the text is editable and can be
repositioned independently of any other image layers. (Chapter 4 will
have more on working with text.)
q Choose the Move tool from the Tools
toolbar and drag the text around until it is
in the right position on the image.
Finally, save the modified image again and/or
export it to another format, such as .BMP or
.JPG. Since exporting “flattens” the image into
a single layer, you’ll probably want to retain an
.SPP image with the layers intact, in case you
decide to do some more editing later.
Making Selections
Before you can apply effects or filters, or copy parts of a picture to the
Clipboard, you must define an active selection area.
Selection options
In the example just completed, you adjusted brightness and contrast in
the image as a whole, and dragged an entire text layer around. Many
times, however, you’ll want to select just a subset of the image (or
layer) to work on. Selecting, you may recall, was one of the “Key
Concepts” presented in Chapter 2. Understanding what you can do with
selections opens up exciting creative possibilities.
Whenever there's a selection, certain tools and commands operate only
on the pixels inside the selection—as opposed to a condition where
nothing is selected, in which case those functions generally affect the
entire active layer. For example, when there's a selection, the brush
tools only work inside the selection; the color simply doesn't affect
outside pixels. If you apply an adjustment or special effect from the
Image menu, it only affects the selected region.
Clicking a layer’s name on the Layer Manager tab makes it the active
layer. To select the whole active layer, choose Select All from the
Select menu or press Ctrl+A.