Expert: LizaL - 1/3/2008

Question
QUESTION: Hi Liza!
I was looking for info on how to make an empty square. Thankfully someone had already asked that question and you had answered it so well that I had to ask you about this problem I've been having.

I wanted to make a collage of all my friends' photos throughout the year so I thought it a good idea to use layering so I could paste and move around different selections from various pictures.

That worked well, but now whenever I paste any selection onto any layer, it automatically opens up a new layer even if I want to paste it in the same layer and not a different one.

This becomes really troublesome when I want to move 2-3 selections in different layers because I have to move them all separately instead of being able to select and move them all together  because it's not in my hands when I want to create a new layer and when I don't.

I can't even insert text in a particular layer 'cos that too opens up a new layer.

I know for sure that it didnt work like that earlier,
before making the collage in layers.

I'd really appreciate your help on this.

I'm sorry I may have described the problem too much in detail but I only thought that maximum information on the problem would help you solve it.

[PS- While we're at it, just a little question more. Maybe it's a little off-track but I think it may be connected.
Whenever we start a new file (File>New), is the white background layer always locked as a default, or could have accidentally changed some settings?]

ANSWER: Hi Kriti,

Layers are great, but they can present some problems. But rest assured, you're doing the right thing by using layers when creating a collage.

I see what you mean about moving more than one selection to different layers, but that's the nature of Photoshop. If you have a file open and drag and drop its contents on your collage file, yes, it will default to its own layer. So you can't move 2-3 files to different layers at once. The program just isn't designed for that.

Now what you *can* do to make multiple selections that move together is link the layers. I just reformatted my hard drive and unfortunately don't have my screen capture program re-installed, so I'll have to explain in text.

Open all the documents you want to use, including the one you want to use for the collage. In the document where you're getting pictures to use for the collage, go to your Layers palette. Select one layer by clicking once on its name. Now click the little box to the right of the eye icon on the layer you want to link this first layer to. In other words, click any other layer other than the one you just selected, but leave the selected layer selected.

The box to the right of the eye icon appears as an empty box when it's not active. Once you click it, however, you should see a link of a chain in the blank box, indicating that that layer is now linked to the first one you selected. You now have the contents of two layers linked.

What this means is that you can now move the contents of both layers at the same time -- so you could essentially drag and drop the contents of both layers into a new layer, at the same time.

But when it comes to type, there's nothing you can do. Using the type tool will ALWAYS create a new layer! That's just the way Photoshop works.

And about the white background layer: When you create a new file using File > New, you get a New document dialog box. Look at the last line of text within the box, where it says Background Contents (right above the Advanced dropdown menu). This is a pop-up menu that lets you make your document's background white, the color of the current background color in your tool palette swatches, or transparent.

Hope this helps!

Lisa







---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: That REALLY helps. I just tried it and it works perfectly as i need it.
Just another thing I jus realised about layers... I just noticed that I can later edit the layers I'd created only when I save the document as a Photoshop document, and not when I save it as a JPEG file, is that right?

Perhaps that's why I got the idea that the default layers were not being created earlier... 'cos the all the layers become a single merged (background) layer when saved in the JPEG format, and all selections made that way, move together because of that.

Answer
Hi again! Glad I could help.

You are exactly right about the layers merging when you save as JPEG. Since JPEG applies a compression routine to your files, it definitely will flatten the layers. So my advice (and what I do routinely) is to save a .PSD (plain old Photoshop file -- the one you worked on), and then save that file as a JPEG. That way you can always have a copy to go back and edit, and then you can resave the edited version as a JPEG.

Lisa