How to new layer on photoshop?

dylan81 · Nov 14, 2018

I am quite new to photoshop, and are having trouble figuring out, how to start a new task, that is seperate from the past background i have worked on.

I usually start on the basic things such as removing blemishes etc, on a new background layer, but learning frequency seperation or dodge and burn now, all these past tasks i have done are carrying over to the next new background layer, especially if i decrease opacity.

Is there a way that i can keep everything seperate from one another?

Thanks

aquavideo · Nov 14, 2018

dylan81 said:
I am quite new to photoshop, and are having trouble figuring out, how to start a new task, that is seperate from the past background i have worked on.

I usually start on the basic things such as removing blemishes etc, on a new background layer, but learning frequency seperation or dodge and burn now, all these past tasks i have done are carrying over to the next new background layer, especially if i decrease opacity.

Is there a way that i can keep everything seperate from one another?

Thanks

You can just create a new blank layer and remove blemishes using the healing brush (not the spot healing brush) or the clone stamp. Every time you get to a junction where you're not sure what to do about a certain task just create a new blank layer. You might also create layers for different parts of an image (nose, eyes, forehead, hair etc) so you can keep tasks separate. This will also make it easier to create adjustment layers for those specific layers or add masks to them. Google clipping layers for more info about this.

With frequency separation you will have to create a "stamp" layer on top of everything (CMD/CTRL + ALT + SHIFT +E), no way around that. But at this point you should be finished with the initial cleanup. And you can always create more blank layers over top and heal/clone more. On the other hand the "high" layer is meant to be for cloning and healing ....

Dodge & Burn just requires two curves layers on top of everything so they are pretty independent.

The good thing about Photoshop is that there's about 200 ways to tackle any task. The bad thing about Photoshop is that there's about 200 ways to tackle any task.

dylan81 · Nov 14, 2018

aquavideo said:
dylan81 said:

I am quite new to photoshop, and are having trouble figuring out, how to start a new task, that is seperate from the past background i have worked on.

I usually start on the basic things such as removing blemishes etc, on a new background layer, but learning frequency seperation or dodge and burn now, all these past tasks i have done are carrying over to the next new background layer, especially if i decrease opacity.

Is there a way that i can keep everything seperate from one another?

Thanks

Click to expand...

You can just create a new blank layer and remove blemishes using the healing brush (not the spot healing brush) or the clone stamp. Every time you get to a junction where you're not sure what to do about a certain task just create a new blank layer. You might also create layers for different parts of an image (nose, eyes, forehead, hair etc) so you can keep tasks separate. This will also make it easier to create adjustment layers for those specific layers or add masks to them. Google clipping layers for more info about this.

With frequency separation you will have to create a "stamp" layer on top of everything (CMD/CTRL + ALT + SHIFT +E), no way around that. But at this point you should be finished with the initial cleanup. And you can always create more blank layers over top and heal/clone more. On the other hand the "high" layer is meant to be for cloning and healing ....

Dodge & Burn just requires two curves layers on top of everything so they are pretty independent.

The good thing about Photoshop is that there's about 200 ways to tackle any task. The bad thing about Photoshop is that there's about 200 ways to tackle any task.

Wow you know your stuff. Thankyou. So do i ever create a new background layer, (cmd j) or just so do blank layers?

JT26 · Nov 14, 2018

Hard to answer that without knowing exactly what technique you are planning on using. For dodge and burn, hold down alt / option and click the new blank layer, then chose overlay blend instead of normal and then tick the fill with 50% grey, or something like that. You can then dodge and burn the image without effecting anything under that layer permanently.

So in that example you dont need to create a new background layer. For Freq Seperation you have to create two new background layers... So its all task / technique dependant.

Happy to help you with anything, as long as I know how to do it ;-)

--

http://www.shootingstills.co.uk/

500px

500px.com

aquavideo · Nov 14, 2018

dylan81 said:
Wow you know your stuff. Thankyou. So do i ever create a new background layer, (cmd j) or just so do blank layers?

You're quite welcome but there's much more knowledgeable people out there.

If there is no need to duplicate a layer I don't see why you should do it. There are times when you can't do that, for example in frequency separation or when using content aware fill. Filters also mostly can't be run on empty layers.

One thing I would do is assign a keyboard shortcut for creating new blank layers so you don't need to click on the icon all the time.

Personally I hit CMD + J right at the beginning once to duplicate the (locked) background layer. After that only when absolutely needed.

dylan81 · Nov 14, 2018

JT26 said:
Hard to answer that without knowing exactly what technique you are planning on using. For dodge and burn, hold down alt / option and click the new blank layer, then chose overlay blend instead of normal and then tick the fill with 50% grey, or something like that. You can then dodge and burn the image without effecting anything under that layer permanently.

So in that example you dont need to create a new background layer. For Freq Seperation you have to create two new background layers... So its all task / technique dependant.

Happy to help you with anything, as long as I know how to do it ;-)

--thanks

http://www.shootingstills.co.uk/
https://500px.com/candidshooter

dylan81 · Nov 14, 2018

dylan81 said:
JT26 said:

Hard to answer that without knowing exactly what technique you are planning on using. For dodge and burn, hold down alt / option and click the new blank layer, then chose overlay blend instead of normal and then tick the fill with 50% grey, or something like that. You can then dodge and burn the image without effecting anything under that layer permanently.

So in that example you dont need to create a new background layer. For Freq Seperation you have to create two new background layers... So its all task / technique dependant.

Happy to help you with anything, as long as I know how to do it ;-)

Click to expand...

Thanks

I’ve done the freq seperation now. Any other retouching before that it seems like I need to do it before frequency separation, as creating a new layer and doing it nothing happens then

JT26 · Nov 14, 2018

You dont have to do the Freq Separation first. Do it anytime... but you then just create a 'stamp visible' layer that aqua suggested previously. Shift + Alt + Commant/Ctrl + E... this basically merges every visible layer you have and then pastes it into a new layer.

If I understand what you mean by 'nothing happens'... If you have done a bit of editing etc, like removing blemishes and colouring the image or whatever it might be... That would be the time to hit the command above creating a stamp visible layer... This effectively is your 'new background', so you would then need to duplicate this layer twice and start the FSeparation process from there. I can add screen shot if this doesnt make sense?

Ernie Misner · Nov 14, 2018

JT26 said:
You dont have to do the Freq Separation first. Do it anytime... but you then just create a 'stamp visible' layer that aqua suggested previously. Shift + Alt + Commant/Ctrl + E... this basically merges every visible layer you have and then pastes it into a new layer.

What is the difference between creating a 'stamp visable' layer as above, or just hitting Command + E (once or twice) and do you ever do that?

JT26 said:
If I understand what you mean by 'nothing happens'... If you have done a bit of editing etc, like removing blemishes and colouring the image or whatever it might be... That would be the time to hit the command above creating a stamp visible layer... This effectively is your 'new background', so you would then need to duplicate this layer twice and start the FSeparation process from there. I can add screen shot if this doesnt make sense?

Is FSeparation the same thing as using 2 separate luminosity layers? Thank you.

aquavideo · Nov 14, 2018

Ernie Misner said:
What is the difference between creating a 'stamp visable' layer as above, or just hitting Command + E (once or twice) and do you ever do that?

You create a "stamp visible" layer by selecting the top most layer and hitting CTRL/CMD + ALT + SHIFT + E. This will create a "stamp" of all visible layers on top of the stack.

CMD + E will merge all selected layers and CMD + SHIFT + E will merge all visible layers.

Note: merging layers is destructive editing.

Ernie Misner said:
Ernie Misner said:

If I understand what you mean by 'nothing happens'... If you have done a bit of editing etc, like removing blemishes and colouring the image or whatever it might be... That would be the time to hit the command above creating a stamp visible layer... This effectively is your 'new background', so you would then need to duplicate this layer twice and start the FSeparation process from there. I can add screen shot if this doesnt make sense?

Click to expand...

Is FSeparation the same thing as using 2 separate luminosity layers? Thank you.

No it's something completely different. It basically separates color and detail.

JT26 · Nov 14, 2018

Hi Ernie.

Command + E just merges down I think, if I remember right. You can keep merging down but you then end up with one layer... The Stamp Visible method just merges / copies every layer into a single new layer while keeping all of the original layers below. Preserving work that you can undo later if needed.

Frequency Separation separates texture from colour basically. So you can edit the texture while keeping the overall contours and colours... perfect for portrait work where skin needs to be retouched properly... instead of things like healing brushes.

Luminosity layers are just layers showing where light and dark parts of the image are. Maybe you use those for blending exposures or applying certain adjustments to only certain parts of the image naturally?

Ernie Misner · Nov 14, 2018

aquavideo said:
Ernie Misner said:

What is the difference between creating a 'stamp visable' layer as above, or just hitting Command + E (once or twice) and do you ever do that?

Click to expand...

You create a "stamp visible" layer by selecting the top most layer and hitting CTRL/CMD + ALT + SHIFT + E. This will create a "stamp" of all visible layers on top of the stack.

CMD + E will merge all selected layers and CMD + SHIFT + E will merge all visible layers.

Note: merging layers is destructive editing.

aquavideo said:

aquavideo said:

If I understand what you mean by 'nothing happens'... If you have done a bit of editing etc, like removing blemishes and colouring the image or whatever it might be... That would be the time to hit the command above creating a stamp visible layer... This effectively is your 'new background', so you would then need to duplicate this layer twice and start the FSeparation process from there. I can add screen shot if this doesnt make sense?

Click to expand...

Is FSeparation the same thing as using 2 separate luminosity layers? Thank you.

Click to expand...

No it's something completely different. It basically separates color and detail.

Thanks a bunch. Looks like something a Luminosity masking panel would not help with then.

aquavideo · Nov 14, 2018

Ernie Misner said:
aquavideo said:

Ernie Misner said:

What is the difference between creating a 'stamp visable' layer as above, or just hitting Command + E (once or twice) and do you ever do that?

Click to expand...

You create a "stamp visible" layer by selecting the top most layer and hitting CTRL/CMD + ALT + SHIFT + E. This will create a "stamp" of all visible layers on top of the stack.

CMD + E will merge all selected layers and CMD + SHIFT + E will merge all visible layers.

Note: merging layers is destructive editing.

Ernie Misner said:

Ernie Misner said:

If I understand what you mean by 'nothing happens'... If you have done a bit of editing etc, like removing blemishes and colouring the image or whatever it might be... That would be the time to hit the command above creating a stamp visible layer... This effectively is your 'new background', so you would then need to duplicate this layer twice and start the FSeparation process from there. I can add screen shot if this doesnt make sense?

Click to expand...

Is FSeparation the same thing as using 2 separate luminosity layers? Thank you.

Click to expand...

No it's something completely different. It basically separates color and detail.

Click to expand...

Thanks a bunch. Looks like something a Luminosity masking panel would not help with then.

Nope

But you can easily get a free action for it. Watch Aaron Nace here and download his action below the video.

Sailor Blue · Nov 14, 2018

The ability to use layers is one of the things that makes PS so great.

One of the problems, however, is that you must know the order in which to stack the layers or you can get unexpected or unwanted results. The incorrect placement of the frequency separation layers and a blemish removal layer is a perfect example of unwanted results.

It sounds like you are learning portrait retouching. Here is a free PS portrait retouching action that will create all the necessary layers (and a few that aren't necessary for every portrait) and put them in the right order. To retouch a portrait just start at the bottom and work your way up. Later on once you understand what is happening you can start making changes to the action to add control to things like how the frequency separation works.

Portrait In a Pinch Action – Photoshop CS6 + CC | Shark Pixel

This video is poorly produced but it does contain all the necessary instructions. You can find a longer and better produced video tutorial by Kristina Sherk on KelbyOne but it doesn't cover anything not in the free video. You should only watch the KelbyOne video if you can get a free trial on KelbyOne.

Portrait In a Pinch Action Video Demo: Retouching Portrait Photography Using a Photoshop Quick Action by Kristina Sherk of SharkPixel | PhotoShelter Blog

Ernie Misner · Nov 15, 2018

JT26 said:
Hi Ernie.

Command + E just merges down I think, if I remember right. You can keep merging down but you then end up with one layer... The Stamp Visible method just merges / copies every layer into a single new layer while keeping all of the original layers below. Preserving work that you can undo later if needed.

Frequency Separation separates texture from colour basically. So you can edit the texture while keeping the overall contours and colours... perfect for portrait work where skin needs to be retouched properly... instead of things like healing brushes.

Luminosity layers are just layers showing where light and dark parts of the image are. Maybe you use those for blending exposures or applying certain adjustments to only certain parts of the image naturally?

What a great reply and thank you very much. So fun when the system works like this.

If you accidentally end up with one layer can you always go backwards and unmerge it? Do you use smart layers a lot to preserve the non-destructive process? Thanks again.

JT26 · Nov 15, 2018

Ernie Misner said:
What a great reply and thank you very much. So fun when the system works like this.

If you accidentally end up with one layer can you always go backwards and unmerge it? Do you use smart layers a lot to preserve the non-destructive process? Thanks again.

Thanks, I actually enjoy discussing the techniques and it's great if I can be of help. But I am not as good as the real PS experts.

Yes you can go back quite a few steps, I am not sure if its unlimited though.

Smart objects are great for using filters. Convert layer to smart object and then you can ad as many filters as you like and then edit them at anytime.

What sort of photography do you like the most?

dylan81 · Nov 15, 2018

Sailor Blue said:
The ability to use layers is one of the things that makes PS so great.

One of the problems, however, is that you must know the order in which to stack the layers or you can get unexpected or unwanted results. The incorrect placement of the frequency separation layers and a blemish removal layer is a perfect example of unwanted results.

It sounds like you are learning portrait retouching. Here is a free PS portrait retouching action that will create all the necessary layers (and a few that aren't necessary for every portrait) and put them in the right order. To retouch a portrait just start at the bottom and work your way up. Later on once you understand what is happening you can start making changes to the action to add control to things like how the frequency separation works.

Portrait In a Pinch Action – Photoshop CS6 + CC | Shark Pixel

This video is poorly produced but it does contain all the necessary instructions. You can find a longer and better produced video tutorial by Kristina Sherk on KelbyOne but it doesn't cover anything not in the free video. You should only watch the KelbyOne video if you can get a free trial on KelbyOne.

Portrait In a Pinch Action Video Demo: Retouching Portrait Photography Using a Photoshop Quick Action by Kristina Sherk of SharkPixel | PhotoShelter Blog

Thankyou for that

aquavideo · Nov 15, 2018

JT26 said:
Smart objects are great for using filters. Convert layer to smart object and then you can ad as many filters as you like

Also great for resizing.

Skip · Nov 15, 2018

aquavideo said:
You create a "stamp visible" layer by selecting the top most layer and hitting CTRL/CMD + ALT + SHIFT + E. This will create a "stamp" of all visible layers on top of the stack.

That's a lot of keys to push at once. In Elements I can get a Stamp layer by clicking on Layer>Merge Visible while just holding down the Option key. Don't know if this alternative carries over to "real" Photoshop but it might make Stamping a bit simpler if it does.

aquavideo · Nov 15, 2018

Skip said:
aquavideo said:

You create a "stamp visible" layer by selecting the top most layer and hitting CTRL/CMD + ALT + SHIFT + E. This will create a "stamp" of all visible layers on top of the stack.

Click to expand...

That's a lot of keys to push at once. In Elements I can get a Stamp layer by clicking on Layer>Merge Visible while just holding down the Option key. Don't know if this alternative carries over to "real" Photoshop but it might make Stamping a bit simpler if it does.

Sure. 200 ways to do any single task in Photoshop. It all comes down to personal preference. I just like my keyboard shortcuts

How to new layer on photoshop?

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