When making composite images in Photoshop (one image from several elements), we use layers. Imagine a layer as a sheet of clear transparent film over the image. When painting on these sheets, anything underneath the layer will show trough the transparent unpainted areas.  Layers give us precise control over the position and look of different elements without altering the rest of the image.

Let’s start by opening our first document. Remember what I said in the beginning about there being many ways to do the same thing? Here is our first example of this. Let’s start with the most obvious way and then go from there.

Selection tools in Photoshop enable us to isolate certain parts of an image and adjust, modify and transform it. Something that the Marquee, Lasso and Magic Wand tools all have in common is the add/subtract/intersect option. This can be found in the options bar.   

The Photoshop work area consists of the following components: Menu Bar, Options Bar, Toolbox, Palette and Palette Well. Let’s have a closer look at each one.