Layers: The Complete Guide to Photoshop's Most Powerful Feature

I'm a digital photographer and consider myself to be an intermediate to advanced Photoshop user. I use Photoshop (with Adobe Bridge and Adobe Camera Raw) primarily to process my digital photos, but I also use it to restore old or damaged photos. I'm very comfortable with layers, layer masks, and blend modes and use layers frequently in my mostly nondestructive workflow. As my knowledge and experience increase, I find each new Photoshop or photo editing book contains less and less material that is new and interesting to me, i.e., the law of diminishing returns. I've enjoyed Matt Kloskowski and his style in his podcasts and Killer Tips videos, so I decided to give his Layers book a try. The book does contain some basic topics but it also covers some advanced topics, and I definitely learned enough to make this book worth the money and worth the time to work through the exercises in each chapter. The best way to use the book is to download the exercise files and work through them as you read each chapter. I personally got the most benefit from the chapters on Type and Shape Layers and on Layer Styles. You experience will certainly be different. I do, however, have a couple of nits for Matt. In several of the examples throughout the book he specifies an RGB color by giving the numerical values for R, G, and B, but he does not specify the color space as sRGB, Adobe RGB, or ProPhoto RGB. The same numbers define different colors in these color spaces. My other nit is for the examples in Chapter 8 - Some More Layer Style Ideas. Matt presents several interesting effects and gives very specific size and distance pixel values in the dialog boxes, but he doesn't give the pixel dimensions of the object to which he's applying the layer style. This made trying to follow his examples in this chapter very difficult for me. If my guess at the object size was off from his, the effects did not work very well or were very overdone. It would be very helpful to have exercise files for these examples. These are minor nits and do not change my recommendation to buy this book.

Having studied three other books on creating and using Photoshop layers and masks - and finding them lacking - I stumbled upon this one when searching through Amazon's inventory. It was a revelation. If you read this book and do the clearly illustrated and explained exercises, you will have a working knowledge of layers and masks (and various other postprocessing aids). No other book is needed. Since I learn best by writing my own tutorials, that's what I did here (using Word), so that I would not have to refer to the book each time I wanted to employ some routine I had learned from studying the book. I would strongly advise you to do the same. The mere writing of the tutorial burns the knowledge into your mind and tests your true understanding of what you read. I am a user of Elements 6, but virtually all of the devices used in Photoshop work in Elements 6 (though some have different names that are not too difficult to figure out). Note: Elements 6 does not have a Layer Mask button so you must make your own layer mask. 1) Layer -- New Fill Layer -- solid color of your choice. 2) Ctrl/[ (left bracket) to place the color fill layer below the image layer. 3) Ctrl/G on image layer to group it and the color fill layer together. 4) Click on color fill layer, then do your brush work. There is a site from which you can download a layer mask button to Elements 6, and I did so, but I don't use it, preferring instead to use the above routine. Summary: this is the book that opens up the world of image postprocessing.

I was new to Photoshop and had used Capture NX and some other basic editing programs before getting CS3 and I was a bit overwhelmed. The whole layers thing is so fundemental to Photoshop, and not that intuitive. This book helped clarify things and direct my workflow for digital images. Not revolutionary, but easy to use and offers some good step-by-step work alongs. In retrospect, a lot of the information is available for free at various websites, but at least you have it at your fingertips in this book.

Just an awesome, awesome book! I've been "using" PS for years, but without any real in-depth studying or training. So, while I was comfortable with some of the basics, I had never really been able to grasp layers and how to use them. I'm working my way through the book now and it has made such a difference. I'm finally truly grasping how layers work and how to make them work for me. I The book is well laid out, easy to follow and not overwhelming or intimidating in size. I also love that the photos used in the examples are available for easy download online. There have been a few spots where I got a bit confused and had to reread and play around a little to figure out what I needed to do (or had done wrong), but I was always able to get back on track quickly. Generally, it was because I had the wrong layer active - duh! While I use the keyboard shortcuts that Matt suggests for each step, I also take the time to figure out how to do the same thing in the menus. I know I won't remember all of the shortcuts, so figure it's good to be comfortable doing things either way. Wish I'd purchased this years ago! I can't say enough good things.

Layers + Masks = FEAR. I'm a fan of Matt Kloskowski from podcasts and video tips on National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) website. So when I saw this book I thought I'd try it despite the lack of reviews on the book at the time. In this book Matt writes as clearly and simply as he presents tips and concepts in the mentioned videos. Easy to read, this book has virtually changed how I approach building composite photographs and most importantly I can understand what the process is that is going on as I experiment and apply the concepts on projects. My confusion and fear with Masking particulary has been replaced with confidence and has opened up a whole world of experimenting with image results that are extremely professional and artistic. I've not completed this book as I have sidetracked with working on several complicated projects putting these new found skills to work. Results have been impressive. Worth the dollars. Excellent for beginners or anyone else wanting to take the next step and create at a whole new level. now....Layers + Masks = FUN

As I'm a Photoshop's beginner, layers feature using is what I have to learn mainly. And this book is exactly what it's wanted for doing so. Clearly explained, every feature is step by step detailed on explicit examples. I recommend this book to beginners as well as those who need to go further with Photoshop

Most of the Photoshop books you can buy tend to assume that you're either a total idiot and know nothing (how likely is that for software which costs many hundreds of whatever your currency is?) or that you're an expert merely honing up your already considerable skills. Then every once in a while a book comes along which assumes you have a little basic knowledge (but are not a total novice) and then takes you to places that you never dreamed possible on a journey that seems effortless. You follow the well written tutorials and then you sit back and think, "Wow, that's amazing, and so easy, I can really use that to improve my photography". And it's full of such tutorials, it makes learning a real pleasure. Yes it's written in the upfront personal American style, but I've read much much worse. Although written for CS3 I used it with CS4 with no problems at all and although there will be no doubt additions for later versions I suspect the base content will last you for a long time.

Vorweg: Ich verwende Photoshop nur zur Retouche von Photos. Ich bin sehr angetan von diesem Buch. Matt Kloskowski versteht es im Gegensatz zu manch anderen Photoshop Büchern das Warum zu erklären, und stellt neben dem Ebenenkonzept klar die Effekte wichtiger Werkzeuge dar. Das Buch hat mir für die selbständige Anwendung von Photoshop mehr gebracht als z.B. die Scott Kelby Bücher. Die englische Sprache im Buch ist sehr gut verständlich. Für mich ein Muss Buch nach dem Scott Kelby Einsteigerbuch.

Anybody who has listened to Matt Kloskowski teaching about Photoshop will know that he is a natural teacher. Everything he teaches is presented in a simple and very understandable manner, even if the subject is highly complicated. Many of the subjects covered in this book are not huge secrets which the pros have kept carefully hidden from the general public. Rather many of the early lessons are simple and slowly build to the more complicated stuff. Matt Kloskowski has arranged the lessons in his Layers book to ensure that it is easy to follow and also in a way you will remember. If you are new to Photoshop and layers you will a thorough grasp of these subjects. The easy to follow tutorials are accompanied by colour images, which lead you through each step and you can even follow along yourself with the provided downloadable lesson files. In short this is a really outstanding Photoshop book.