Original subtitles

so here we have a picture of a landscape

and I want to draw some birds instead of

drawing right here I take a transparent

sheet of paper and draw the birds right

here now the pen isn't working as well

but you get the point I now have the

freedom to move the bird around I can

rotate the birds digitally I can even

enlarge it however if I had directly

painted the birds right here

I cannot even erase it erasing it will

erase the image I cannot move it around

I cannot rotate it or enlarge it however

in this one I can do whatever I want and

on top of that I can remove it as well

similarly in Photoshop we have the same

landscape and if we create a new layer

by clicking on this button inside of the

layers panel we have a new layer right

here and right inside of it if we paint

the birds we have the freedom to rotate

it by pressing Ctrl or command T don't

forget transform we can rotate it we can

make it larger or smaller we can move it

around do whatever we want we can even

turn it off and on on the other hand

just like in that paper example if we

had not painted on that transparent

sheet in this case the layer and if we

had directly painted right here we

couldn't rotate it remove it or do

whatever we wanted we couldn't even

press Ctrl or command T because this

background layer is locked even if we

unlocked it we pressed controller

command T it would just make the whole

thing larger take the whole thing and

move the whole thing around that

completely takes away your freedom we

cannot even erase it if we try to do so

by picking the Eraser tool right here

and try to paint over the birds it just

will erase the whole thing so all in all

what are less we just did the experiment

the layers are like transparent sheets

of paper one on top of the other and

these sheets of paper can contain a

graphic or an adjustment now what do I

mean by an adjustment so here we have

our landscape as a background on top of

that we have our birds as a graphic and

on top of that we can have an adjustment

we're gonna get to it later but for

right now you can click on the

adjustment layer icon and choose any of

these adjustments for example let us

choose photo filter you can add this

color to the entire image let's check

that and then you can increase the

density according to your liking so

there you go it warms up the entire

image so here you have the graphic of

birds and on top of that we have an

adjustment which adjusts all of the

layers beneath it we have lots of fun

projects in this lesson so make sure to

download The Practice files linked up in

the description also if your pics

creative patreon member you can download

the finished psds of all of these

examples and all of the videos that we

have created assets for here at

piximperfect so first of all why are

layers so important so here we have a

very simple design of which I got the

idea from Adobe Express if you're

interested I'll link it up in the

description Adobe Express is one of the

easiest ways to create designs quickly

without opening Photoshop but this is

the Photoshop class so here is a very

simple gradient background on top of

that we have some text now I wanted the

subject to be on top of the text and we

have a fun project on text behind

subject later but for right now we have

this text on top of that we have a

subject and then we have some other text

so right now we have the flexibility to

change literally whatever we want not

just the background and the text have a

look at this so of course we can double

click right here single click right here

and change the background to whatever

gradient we want we can create our

gradient as well hit okay hit OK again

we can change the text as well for

example we double click on the T to

select that text and change it to for

example match and on the other hand we

can even move the subject make it bigger

smaller there's also a fun thing we can

do select the subject layer press Ctrl

or command T you can make it smaller or

larger rotate it to whatever you want on

top of that here's the fun thing you can

go to edit and then pop it warp this is

exciting you want to make sure show mesh

is checked so that you can see what is

happening right there you can expand it

a little bit to avoid artifacts again

this is an advanced adjustment but you

can play with it so right here we can

create a point right here we can create

another point so create points across

the body and then you can move it for

example you can select this point hold

the ALT key or the option key a circle

appears around and then you can just

drag to move so cool isn't it select

this one hold the ALT key the option key

just move it like that and once you're

done hit enter or return so here was the

before here's the after you can create

more points to lock in the subject but

you get the point now let's go back to

how it was remember we learned about

history you can open up the history

panel by clicking on this button or

going to window and making sure history

is checked you can click at the very top

to go back to how the document was when

you first opened it now let us merge all

of these layers select the topmost layer

hold the shift key select the bottom

most layer every layer in between will

be selected another way of selecting

multiple layers is holding the control

or command and keep on clicking on

layers you want to select for example

you want to select this one you hold the

controller command you want to select

this one both of them would be selected

if you want to select layers in series

you know what to do select the first one

hold the shift key select the last one

in the series Once selected if you press

Ctrl or command e all of those layers

would be merged right now I'm stuck I

cannot even change the background I

cannot change the text everything is

burned into those pixels and I cannot

even move the subject I would have to

make a selection remove the text add

that back in so all of those

flexibilities are gone and that is why

layers are extremely important by the

way another shortcut to merge all of the

layers whether you have selected them or

not is pressing Ctrl shift and E there

you go I didn't even select all of them

and everything is merged if you select

some of them for example you selected

the subject and the text layers so let's

select the first one hold the shift key

and select the last one you want to

select in the series I don't want to

select the background and then you press

Ctrl or command e only those would be

merged so controller command e to merge

this selected list and Ctrl or command

shift and E to merge all of the layers

irrespective of whether you have

selected them or not by now I'm sure you

already know this and I'm so proud of

you but we have to discuss this topic

that is visibility a little more in

detail take a look at this project that

we did here's the original image by the

way how am I doing all of this that is

why this discussion is important on top

of that we removed the blemishes let's

turn on that layer as you can see here's

the before some blemishes are there

here's the after blemishes are removed

on top of that we applied some skin

tones we added a little bit of contrast

there was some discoloration on the lips

as you can see right here we fixed that

with discoloration layers on top of that

we did some dodging and burning as you

can see it makes it amazing and on top

of that there's some contrast uniforming

the skin tone adding shine to the eyes

real light jaw light

we boosted the lip colors we added some

redness to the cheek here's the before

here's the after you see that and we

reduced the overall highlights now why

is visibility important because

sometimes we need to turn off and on

layers to see whether we need it or not

or whether we need it in that much

intensity or not in this case let us say

we don't like the eye shine and we want

to turn it off so how do we turn off the

visibility think of it this way how do

we see how are you watching this video

with our eyes right if we didn't have

eyes we wouldn't see similarly in

Photoshop if we didn't have that I we

wouldn't see that layer so when you see

the eye that layer is turned on and when

the eye goes away that is not visible so

that's an easy way to remember it to see

or not to see now it is not just limited

to that now let's say you want to see

just that layer and nothing else how do

we make something solo you simply hold

the ALT key or the option key click on

the I and all of the other eyes just go

away in other words their visibility

goes away now if you hold the ALT key or

the option key again and you click on

that I again everything turns back on

let's say in this example you just

wanted to see the subject layer you hold

the ALT key or the option key and click

on the I of the subject layer only that

is turned on everything else turns off

and if you want to set it back to how it

was hold the alt query option key again

and click on the I everything turns back

on let us take it a step further and let

us say layers at random who have turned

off and you want to turn everything back

on how do we do that let's right click

on in here and choose show or hide all

other layers click on that do it one

more time and everything is turned on

now did you know in the later versions

of Photoshop you can zoom in to the

contents of a particular layer for

example let's say you're working on the

good text you can hold the ALT key or

the option key and click on the good it

zooms in right there you want to work on

the subject you hold the ALT key or the

option key and click on that layer it

zooms into that so whatever you have in

any layer let's create a new layer let's

take a brush and just paint some random

stuff right here okay if you hold the

ALT key or the option key and click on

that layer it zooms into that so that's

a funky little feature to help you focus

on a layer now let's say you don't see

the layers panel something came over you

you closed it or it simply went missing

first thing to do is not to panic

secondly if you're missing any panels in

Photoshop all you need to do is to go to

window and make sure that panel is

turned on in this case it is layers just

simply click on it it will show up and

then you can stick it up right over here

now let's understand the concept of

background list with a very simple

example so here I've opened an image of

a beautiful texture wonderful light leak

and whenever you open an image or create

a new document with a background it

shows up as a background layer and it

has a lock icon right there now what

does that mean let us understand now

let's say you want to apply this texture

or light leak to a particular image

let's open that image let's go to our

finder or Explorer and I'm just going to

drag in and drop in that photo over the

canvas now this is fantastic let's name

this layer how do we name a layer in

Photoshop we double click on the text

and you can name it to whatever you want

however if you try to name the

background layer it won't let you do it

unless you convert it into a regular

layer and that's what it's doing right

now let's hit cancel for now the other

thing we you want to do is we want the

texture to be on top of the subject of

course because we want the light leak to

be above the subject but we cannot do

that we cannot change the order so far

we have talked about two properties of

the background layer you cannot name it

you cannot change its stacking order

also when you're adding texture

sometimes you want to reduce the opacity

but you cannot do that with the

background layer you cannot even change

the blend mode which we have to do to

apply that texture so basically the

background layer is something that is

meant to stay in the background and

absolutely prevent transparency for

example let's turn off the subject layer

for a moment if you take the Eraser and

even if you try to erase it just paints

it white you know why it paints it white

because the background color is white

have a look right here the square at the

top is the foreground color the square

at the back is the background color now

if you click on it and set the

background color to something else for

example red and then if you select the

Eraser tool right here and you try to

erase it it will turn red so at any cost

the background lab prevents transparency

and that is why you cannot even move it

so if you choose the move tool right

here and if you try to move it it won't

let you move it there you go it shows

the error now how do we get around it

you guessed it right we have to convert

the background layer into a regular

layer there are lots of ways to do it

the easiest way is simply clicking on

the lock right here now it's unlocked

layer zero also you can double click on

it name the letter whatever you want for

example let's name it light leak hit OK

and there you have the lightly clear so

any of the ways you can use now let's

bring the subject under the light leak

now we want the light leak to interact

with the layers beneath of course we can

decrease the opacity and that looks okay

but we wanted to interact and how do we

make the layers interact with other

layers in various ways and here my

friend is your introduction to blending

modes or blend modes and what does blend

modes do the answer is in the question

it Blends the layer in various ways so

click on the drop down right here and

you can choose whatever blend mode you

want and as you hover through it it's

going to give you a preview of how each

blend mode is going to look like now

blend mode is a whole different lesson

which we'll cover in the future I also

have a video on 27 blend modes and what

they do scientifically right here they

have several videos on blend modes but

we'll cover it as a part of this course

for right now just know that screen

brightness

multiply darkens overlay adds contrast

and normal blend mode is the regular

normal blend mode shows the image the

way it is and then you have other blend

modes like color which colors the image

according to that layer and there's a

plethora of those for right now let's

choose screen and there you have it a

wonderful light leak texture but this is

too much how do we make the layers more

transparent you already know this and

that is opacity simply decrease the

opacity in this case I'm going to go for

76 that works perfectly now what if you

wanted you don't really have to but what

if you wanted to convert the subject

layer into a background layer so that it

just doesn't move around you cannot

change the opacity or the blend mode how

can we do that all you need to do is to

go to layer new and choose background

from layer make sure that layer is

selected first of all if you pick that

and there you go this is now a

background layer you cannot move it it

will show you an error you cannot erase

things because now it will paint it with

the background color you cannot change

the opacity or the blend mode so that's

how the full circle works now I need to

point this out ideally we would open the

subject Image First and on top of that

we would bring in the overlay but I did

it in reverse order just to explain how

background layers work now this is what

you would do you would open the subject

image and on top of that you would bring

in the light leak like this now the

reason I'm showing you this again is

that this is right now a smart art

object we can cover smart object later

but you should know that smart objects

look like this it's like a layer but

with this icon and one of the

limitations of smart objects is that you

cannot paint on it you cannot change the

pixels so if you take the brush try to

paint on it it won't let you do it it

will ask you to convert that layer into

a regular layer if you try the smudge

tool it just won't work if you try the

healing tools it won't work in any way

it won't let you change the pixels so in

that case you would have to convert this

layer into a regular raster layer right

click on it and then choose rasterize

layer and now you can do whatever you

want for example first of all let's

change the blend mode to screen like it

was before change the opacity to about

80 percent and right now let's say I

don't like the lines on top of the face

so I just want to erase it so I would

choose the spot healing brush tool click

and hold on the patch group choose the

spot healing brush tool you want to make

sure you sample just this layer not the

layer beneath so let's turn it off and

just paint on the spots you want to

remove there you go they're gone

so easy

from right here as well

there you go so whenever you're adding

texture this is an important tip you

don't want a lot over the face

there you are but you have to keep it

natural at the same time by the way I

got this light leak from envato elements

it's a platform I highly recommend

unlike many other stock platforms you

can just pay a monthly fee and get

access to unlimited assets millions of

assets like leaks photoshop brushes

Photoshop plugins as well images stock

videos and the list just goes on so

check it out for the latest offers and

discounts check the links in the

description you should know some quick

shortcuts for opacity for a quick check

for example right here the opacity is

set to 80 if you have any non-brushing

tools selected And I stress this again

non-brushing tool for example the move

tool right here if you press any number

for example you pressed four opacities

right now 40. if you pressed seven

opacity 70 if you pressed eight opacity

is 80. so it's a good way to check so

this is how it looks with 30 60 40 90.

maybe I like something around 70. now if

you press two numbers quickly in

succession the opacity would be that for

example 74 press 7 and 4 quickly now

it's 74. four five it's 45. 75 75.

96 96 so pressing it

with a little Gap in time

sets it to that for example 7 is 70 4 is

40 but press quickly for example 4 6 now

it's 46. now do keep in mind that if you

have any of the brushing tools selected

for example the brush tool right here

that has opacity in the options bar if

you press the shortcuts for example you

pressed five it changes the opacity of

the two three for thirty eight for

eighty five six quickly for 56 all right

similarly for the pencil tool as well it

will do the same 30 50 56 all right

similarly for the mixer brush or any of

the brushing tools even the art history

or the history brush tool those are

tools that you wouldn't use the art

history and the history so much but you

get the point these are important ones

like the mixer brush and the brush too

so make sure you're not in any of the

tools where you have opacity in the

options bar only then when you press the

shortcuts the opacity of the layers

change another shortcut that applies not

just to opacity but any new numeric

parameter in Photoshop is this if you

hover the mouse over that parameter text

in this case it is the opacity if you

click and drag to the right it increases

if you click and drag to the left it

decreases and you can easily tell when

the cursor turns into a pointing hand

with two arrows on either side similarly

with any other parameter for example

fill you can decrease it and increase it

by the way what is fill and how is it

different again fill is a very vast

topic and we will cover it in the next

lesson you can do some incredible

incredible effects with it and we will

have some fun projects too another

shortcut if you hold the shift key and

then if you click and drag to the right

or left it goes very quickly so quickly

with just little movements it is now

zero and just with a little movement it

is at 100 however if you hold the ALT

key and then if you click and drag or

the option key on a Mac it happens very

very slowly like this much movement got

me to zero and this much movement gets

me to hundred so for final adjustments

hold the ALT key and for quick

adjustments hold the shift key as you

drag in that opacity and for normal

speed and don't press anything now let's

talk about the concept of transparency

transparency is denoted by Checker boxes

in Photoshop so if we take an eraser and

try to erase the white background it is

not doing anything actually it is doing

something it's painting it in white

because the background color is white so

let's change the background color to

something else for example green and if

we try to erase it it's not making it

transparent why because this is a

background layer we just learned it so

let's turn this layer into a regular

layer by simply clicking on this lock

right now if you take the Eraser and you

try to erase it have a look right here

there is nothingness and nothingness is

shown with Checker boxes like this now

how do we remove the background right

here very quickly since all of the

background is white we can easily use

the magic wand tool the magic wand tool

simply selects similar colors so let's

pick that and now make sure tolerance is

around 20 that is fine and the settings

are the same as what you see right here

and click on the white areas and all of

the white areas are now selected you can

simply press the delete key and now it

is transparent now you might really ask

what is tolerance and mesh well it is

easy to understand let's say you're

throwing your birthday party all right

and you have food enough for a

particular number of people and that is

your tolerance the amount of food you

have is your tolerance now you called a

friend she came over but she brought

another Fender first and you're like

okay

I didn't invite her but that's fine I

have enough food that is your tolerance

now what if that friend brings one more

friend you're still like okay I have

enough food it will be all right but

let's say that friend brings four

another more friends

and you're like okay now this is not

gonna work we would have to get more

food probably

similarly in Photoshop tolerance is the

amount of food you have and the amount

of colors you can feed or in other words

select so if the tolerance is one right

here we have a gradient from purple to

Blue right if we click right here only

that one friend comes in that is very

close to you he or she cannot bring

other friends which are similar to them

but if the tolerance is higher like

let's say 10 and then if you click more

friends can come in because you have

more food right now if the tolerance is

at 40 and if you click right here more

similar colors get selected so you get

the idea of Tolerance now it is simply

how much similar colors can the

selection select or in other words

tolerate so once you have the background

taken out you can save this as a PNG not

a jpeg because jpeg does not support

transparency it will have a white

background if you save it as a JPEG so

let's go to file of course you can

choose save a copy and save it as a PNG

you can also go to export and choose

export has also quick export as a PNG

choose export as there's so many ways to

do the same thing in Photoshop let us

choose the format as PNG that is fine

width and height is fine you can also

choose to convert it to srgb which is

the standard color profile and embed the

color profile click on export let's save

it as be transparent there you go now

whenever you have any image where you

want to bring in the B as an asset you

can open that image and on top of that

if you bring the regular image the white

background will come with it of course

but if you bring the transparent one

only the B will come in so I deleted

that layer and we'll learn how to delete

layers later so let's drag it and drop

it right here there we go just the beep

looks fantastic in this one time for us

to do a fun project and with this we'll

learn the basic functions of the layers

panel now we'll cover an effect which is

very popular especially with a later

iPhone wallpapers text behind the

subject and we have seen it everywhere

it's high in demand let us do it so when

you look at this image this image looks

a little tilted or crooked so let's

select the crop tool the shortcut to

which is C you can also click right here

but always remember shortcuts and how do

you find the shortcuts if you click and

hold it just says right there for

example the shortcut for the brush tool

you click and hold it says right there

that is B crop tool is C all right now

once the crop tool is selected at the

top you have the straighten button right

here click on that and draw a straight

line along the thing which should have

been straight so I'm going to create a

straight line along this and this is

about straight it was showing zero

degrees so what is crooked let's go back

to how it was so what is really crooked

as you can see the matte is crooked The

Horizon is straight but the mat is

crooked how do we fix this first of all

let us make a copy of the background

layer and here's the first basic

function how do we duplicate a layer we

simply do that by pressing Ctrl or

command J

we make a copy of the layer that was

selected again I'm going to repeat that

again for you select the background

layer or any layer you want to create a

duplicate off and press Ctrl or command

J now another long way of doing that if

you are charging by the hour is simply

going to layer new and choose layer wire

copy have a look at the shortcut Ctrl or

command J there you go now here's

another basic function if you apply any

filter to it by going to filter let's

say noise and add noise let's add a lot

of noise it is burned into the pixels

you cannot reduce the filters later you

cannot change the values later so you're

stuck so how do we fix this first of all

let's go back by pressing Ctrl or

command Z or Z

now right click on that layer and choose

convert to Smart object or you can also

go to filter and choose convert for

smart filters both will do the same

thing and it will convert the layer into

a smart object hit ok now we're going to

discuss the advantages of smart objects

later but one of the major advantage is

that if you add any filter in this case

let's go to noise and then add noise

again hit OK it adds as a smart filter

now you can double click on it and

change the value to whatever you like

you can also delete the smart filter by

dragging it and dropping it to the trash

can right and that's also how you delete

a layer so another basic function how do

we delete a layer let's drag it and drop

it into the trash can one more way of

deleting the layer simply selecting the

layer and pressing the delete key it

also deletes the layer and yes of course

with the layer selected you can click on

the trash can icon it also deletes it

but it shows up this warning if you

don't want to see it check don't show

again and click on yes to take it away

so again let's press controller command

J to make a copy and let's name this

layer fixed we'll fix it now let's

convert this layer into a smart object

by going to filter convert for smart

filters hit ok now let's apply a filter

that is so amazing that there can be a

class for it let's go to filter and that

is the camera raw filter now of course

you have all of those basic functions

like exposure contrast highlights

shadows and all of that let's collapse

these settings for now scroll down and

go to geometry and inside of that click

on this button right here now we know

that this is straight so draw a straight

line across it

there you go

and we want to straighten this thing so

let's draw a straight line across this

one

and it will make it straight hit OK once

you're satisfied and the best part is

this is a smart filter you can double

click on it and change the stuff right

here click on draw guides and you can

change the lines let's hit cancel for

now now to put the text behind we have

to have the subject at the top so let's

make a copy of the fixed layer press

Ctrl or command J and let's name this

layer subject now we want to Simply mask

out the background from this one so that

only the subject stays so let's select

any of these three selection tools the

magic tool the quick selection or the

object selection two and once you do at

the top you will see select subject

click on that and it will make a pretty

good selection of the subject however

it's not very very accurate so to make

it more accurate here's another tip for

the later versions of Photoshop and that

is if you click on the drop down right

next to select subject you will have the

option to process it in the cloud so if

you're not too concerned about privacy

it will be safe I don't know but it's up

to you do it at your own risk so choose

Cloud click on select subject it does a

better selection and it creates a better

result so as you can see it is

better have a look at this it is much

better than the previous one so once you

have the selection active you want to

click on this button that creates a mask

or in other words a cutout so right here

as you can see white are the areas that

show up and black are the areas that

hide right now you cannot see it because

other layers are turned on but if you

hold the ALT key or the option key click

on the eye and only keep that turned on

you can see it properly as you can see

the subject is white so you can see that

and the background is black therefore

you cannot see it let's turn everything

back on hold the ALT key of the option

key click on the I now just behind this

we want our text by the way if you don't

want to see the smart filters if you

want to just hide it in click on this

Arrow right there

There You Go hidden let's select the

layer beneath it choose the text tool

and click to type in now it's very small

let's make it larger like this so that

we can see as we type type in stay

centered all right let's make it larger

select the move tool press Ctrl or

command D and let's make it larger like

that

now this is behind the subject but

there's an issue the background is too

bright and we cannot even see the text

so how do we create an adjustment so

that all of the layers under it become

darker simply by creating an adjustment

layer and how do we create an adjustment

layer simply by clicking on the

adjustment layer icon which is this

circle with half gray or white and half

black click on that and then choose

exposure for now you can also choose

curves that is a little more advanced

for now keep it simple and choose

exposure and we wanted it behind the

text so let's bring it behind the text

and simply decrease the exposure there

you go that text is now visible let's

keep it 0.5 minus 0.5 and that's just

perfect now the stay centered text

definitely needs to stay centered and

how do we make that happen we already

learned about it in lesson one so after

this video If you haven't watched watch

that simply with the move tool selected

make sure inside of the three dots

aligned to Canvas is selected and then

you can Center it according to the can

this right here click on this button or

click on this button to align it to the

left but right now nothing is happening

you know why because the exposure layer

is selected not the stay centered layer

you can Center it horizontally you can

align it to the left to the right center

it vertically up to you so I'm going to

set it to how it was

this way now let's add a little more

text right here let's say this is a live

class and by the way we want the subject

to be centered as well and for it we

have to stretch the image press C for

the crop 2 and you want to make sure

delete cropped pixels is checked off we

don't want to do that and Center it so

that the subject is in the center I

stretched it a little bit

now what about the rest of the areas of

course you can fill it with a lot of

tools that are coming up in Photoshop

but you know what nobody's gonna notice

all you need to do is select the fixed

layer where you had fixed it now you

should know that we cannot change the

pixels of the smart object so here's

another basic function let's say you

selected an area and this whole area and

you want this area to be on a separate

layer all by itself how do we make that

happen once you make that selection and

we made that selection with the

rectangular Marquee two I'm going to do

that again for you so we selected the

rectangular Marquee 2 and we made a

selection with the fixed layer selected

and then pressed Ctrl or command J that

is the same shortcut as creating a

duplicate layer and when you do have a

selection only that area goes into the

other layer press controller command D

and I want to stretch it but if I try to

do that it just makes everything larger

so how do we make sure it doesn't

maintain the aspect ratio we hold the

shift key and then just stretch it trust

me nobody's going to notice unless you

tell them this is perfect now again of

course you have to Center the stay

centered text so select that with the

move tool selected Center it

horizontally now let's add some more

text right here with the text tool

selected let's click right here let's

say this is a live show let's type in

Tuesdays at 7am maybe or 8 am up to you

whenever you wake up let's keep it that

way and change the font double click on

the T to select all of it I'm going to

have Poppins it's one of my favorite

fonts

bold this is nice press controller

command D with the move tool selected

and let's make it smaller and set it

right over here let's make it a little

more smaller there you go you want to

see all of it this is perfect now we

want to add a little more text on the

right as well and we want the same size

so again another basic function you can

hold the ALT key or the option key click

and drag

it makes a copy and now you have a copy

of that layer similarly right here as

well you have the subject layer right if

you hold the ALT key or the option key

click and drag you have another layer

right here all right so that's the

shortcut to do a copy

do you want it to be on the same line

and double click on the T type in join

us live

there you are love is fine too let's

have it on the right hand side double

click on the D and let's have it some

red color something like this is fine

okay also if you want to make sure

everything is aligned properly you can

go to view and make sure snap is checked

and you can snap to everything so right

now what happens is whenever you try to

move something and something is in the

same line it will snap to it and it will

indicate it with those pink lines so I

want this to be in the same line there

you go now they're in the same line

and once they're on the same line you

can hold the shift key and then when you

move it it moves in the same line there

you go now it snaps to the end of d as

well properly so that's a quick tip now

if you want to make it a little more

fancy let's add some grain to the

background and to do that we have to

create a new layer and let's learn a new

way to create a new layer press Ctrl

shift n command shift n on a Mac the new

layer dialog box is going to show up

let's name it grain you don't have to

understand much right now just change

the blend mode from normal to Overlay

just know that over laser blend mode

which hides anything that is 50 Gray

absolutely neutral gray if you have

anything brighter than neutral gray it

will make that area brighter if you have

any color darker than 50 great will make

that area darker so let's choose overlay

and choose fill with overlay neutral

color which is 50 Gray check that hit OK

that way you have a new layer called

green and it is filled with gray you

cannot see it because the blend mode is

set to Overlay and overlay hides

everything that is 50 gray if the blend

mode was normal this is what you would

see let's change it back to Overlay now

before adding any filter to it what do

we do we change this layer into a smart

object y so that we can change the

values of the filter later

so let's select that layer go to filter

convert for smart filters hit ok now

let's go to filter noise and add noise

let's add a lot of noise at about 40

right 40 make sure uniform is checked

you can also try gaussian and see what

kind of results it creates if this is

something you like you can go with it

for me uniform is fine I don't want to

add color noise so choose monochromatic

and hit OK

let's check that again hit ok now the

noise is very very sharp if you want to

blur it a little bit let's go to filter

blur and then gaussian blur let's add

about 0.8 0.8 or 0.6 up to you 0.8 is

fine hit okay now have a look how

fantastic this looks I'm going to zoom

in a little bit have a look at it the

subject is clean the background is

textured this just looks awesome now

what now again is the advantage of

converting this layer into a smart

object we can double click on gaussian

blur and change its value right here so

for example I want to set it to one hit

okay I can double click on add noise

and change its value I can increase it

or decrease it so you get that

flexibility with it now to finish it off

let us apply an adjustment at the top

and we're gonna choose a color lookup

something you can play with experiment

with click on the adjustment icon and

then choose color lookup the color

lookup allows you to apply Luts or look

up tables to your images Luts in other

words are simple mathematics to tell all

right make the bright pixel slightly

darker make the darker pixels slightly

reddish so there are different

mathematical presets and you have all of

these presets right over here for

example this is fall colors this is

crisp winter

late Sunset all different kinds of

wonderful presets by the way I love it

you can also download free Luts from the

internet you can buy them you can create

them as well I have a video on creating

Luts right here which you can check out

so for this example even late Sunset

looks fantastic on this one we can go

with it and decrease the opacity I think

it's too much let's decrease it to about

76 I don't know there's something about

that number it always comes to that

another good one that I use time and

again is crisp warm it adds that warmth

to the image let's decrease the opacity

set it to about 62 that's fine and there

you have it now let's talk about layer

grouping grouping layers is very

important so for example if you selected

join us live Tuesdays at seven stay

centered I want to Center all of this

all right all of them are now selected

so with the move tool selected if I try

to Center them it just centers

everything on an individual level all

right however if we select all of these

layers so select the first one hold the

shift key select the last one in the row

everything is selected press Ctrl or

command G to group all of these layers

and let's name this text all right so

all of the text is in one group I can

decrease the opacity of all of them

collectively I can move them around

collectively there are many other

Advanced features which we can cover

later but for right now we can Center it

collectively so even if all of it is

moved to the right with the move tool

selected you can make sure that align to

Canvas is chosen and then you can Center

it this way even if aligned to selection

is selected you can select all for

example you can press Ctrl or command a

to select the entire canvas and then you

can Center according to the entire

canvas so for me I always have it set to

selection so in case I need to center it

according to the selection I can do that

if I need to do it according to the

canvas I can select the entire canvas

and do that now after you're done with

the selection do not forget to press

Ctrl or command D to deselect also

grouping the layers helps you clean the

entire thing up so this is all the

background so select the first one hold

the shift key select the last one press

controller command G and this is the

background and then you have the grain

then you have the subject so everything

is just so clean right now now you might

also notice that the selection of the

subject may not be that much accurate if

you come down right here there are areas

that is left out and it's all in the

cutout right here if you just want to

see the cutout or in other words The

Mask you can hold the ALT key or the

option key click on the mask button to

just see that there you go white other

areas which show up black are the areas

which hide you can hold the ALT key of

the option key again and click on the

mask back in to see the entire image so

to fix it you can simply take a brush

zoom in so these areas are left out

right so take white as the foreground

color so you can easily take the time to

paint that back in again there are very

quick ways to do it if you paint a

little extra by the way you can paint

that area in Black because black hides

there we go like that

masking and selection is a whole another

lesson for the future another important

thing to keep in mind whenever you're

working in Photoshop is that you take a

break if you're engrossed in your work

for too long you might miss certain

mistakes that you're making it might be

obvious when you come back from your

break and in this case I feel why not

add one more adjustment layer one more

color lookup I really really loved the

late Sunset right here it just made it

look absolutely dramatic of course we

don't want it too much how about we add

it just to the background so if we take

it under the subject how would that look

well that's not too bad let's add a

little bit of it oh now that is starting

to look something exciting so at about

38 is fine what if you bring it to the

top just experiment what if we take it

down there you go what if we make

another copy of it so select that press

Ctrl or command J and take it to the top

of the subject and we want to apply it

just to the subject and that's another

basic function so if there's a lead that

you just want to apply to the layer

beneath that you can hold the ALT key or

the option key and click on the line

between these two layers an icon with a

square and a down arrow shows up if you

click right now you see this Arrow right

there that means it's only applicable to

the subject now you can control the

opacity just for the subject so for the

subject I want just a little bit of it

28 and there you go so how it works is

that for example let's say I create one

more layer and I just start painting on

it so with the brush selected let's

choose a funky color like green so you

can see what's happening and I start

painting like this it paints over the

entire image however if I hold the ALT

key or the option key and click on the

line between these two layers here we

have an arrow we have another arrow

everything is directed towards the

subject it will be limited just to the

subject let's create one more layer

let's choose another funky color like

red

hold the ALT key option key click on the

line between these two layers again

whatever we do will be limited to the

subject of course you can break it hold

the ALT key the option key again and

click on the line again it shows the

icon with a cut click on that and it's

outside of the clipping mask so in this

example the real world application is we

have one color lookup just for the

background and we have other one just

for the subject and we can control them

individually you can even go ahead and

choose a different color lookup for the

subject for example this one or soft

forming this just opens up a lot of

possibilities for you I like this one

I'm gonna go with it makes it pop we

have already learned this in lesson one

but in case you missed it if you want

the layer thumbnails to be bigger just

right click on the empty space you can

choose no thumbnails no thumbnails are

going to show up small ones medium ones

and large ones however

if the list is too long and there is no

space to click on you can click on the

hamburger icon of the layers panel and

inside of that go to panel options and

from here you can choose the size in

other words the thumbnail size of the

list

let's keep it medium hit okay that's

fine let's close this keep it clean

there you are finally let us discuss the

different types of layers we have

already discussed and covered a lot of

them throughout the lessons let's

clarify them first of all we have our

raste delay these are regular layers

made up of pixels now since it is made

up of pixels you can modify the pixels

for example here we have a blue gradient

background and on top of that we have a

regular raster layer made up of pixels I

can go ahead and erase it if I want to

so let's choose a hard round brush we

can erase it no worries we are just

simply making the pixels go away it's

made up of pixels so that is not an

issue I can paint in pixels that's not

an issue I can change or modify the

pixels for example by choosing the

smudge tool or the blur tool so I can

push it around do whatever I want now

since we are modifying the pixels

directly of course there are drawbacks

for example right now let's say there

are 1000 pixels just let's say for

Simplicity press Ctrl or command D and

I'm going to make it really really small

hit enter and just apply it okay

so the number of pixels reduced from

1000 let's say to 50. again if we press

Ctrl or command D and try to make it

larger again we don't have any details

because we only have the information of

those 50 pixels and we are trying to

expand it to 1000 pixels so Photoshop

has to guess all of that data in between

and that is why we lose all the details

so if you're making things smaller or

larger again and again it is not very

advisable to use raster layers so what

would we do in this case we would right

click on it and convert the raster layer

into a smart object and that is our

second type of layer now you can press

controller command D you can make it as

small as you want and then you can make

it as big as you want and you don't lose

any details smart object is simply a

preview of The Source or the original

image now this image is still made up of

pixels the smart object is simply a

preview of that image not the image

itself so right now whatever I'm doing

to it for example making it smaller make

making it larger we are doing to that

preview the source is not affected

however if you click on the thumbnail of

this it opens the source for you in a

separate document and now of course you

can modify the pixels for example I'm

going to take the Eraser and erase this

Branch right here all right this one as

well and if I save it by pressing Ctrl

or command s

the preview gets updated as well let's

close it there we go this is simply a

preview of it and since it is just a

preview you cannot change the pixels of

it if you select the Eraser and try to

erase that you cannot do it

so how do we get around that we simply

create a mask so click on the mask

button the mask is created remember

anything that is the White shows up

anything that is black hides so just

take the brush and paint with white and

black so let's paint with black to erase

it so right here we are painting with

black and let's paint with white to show

it again here's one more advantage over

the Eraser that you can bring things

back as well the next type of layers are

adjustment layers we already discussed

that they adjust the layers beneath it

and you can turn it off you can change

the adjustment at any point of time

let's say you want to change the blue of

your shirt let's create a hue saturation

adjustment layer by clicking on the

adjustment layer icon and then choosing

Hue saturation with the help of the hand

right here click on the hand if you

click and drag on the blue it will

increase or decrease the saturation if

you drag it to the right it will

increase the saturation if you drag it

to the left it will decrease the

saturation pretty cool isn't it also if

you hold the control role or command and

then if you click and drag it changes

the Hue so we can have it this color or

any other color you want that is just

fantastic so I'm going to keep it this

color for example you can change the

saturation you can make it absolutely

black or gray it's up to you now not all

of the blue is selected to make sure all

of them is selected you can expand the

range the first thing to do is first

increase the saturation all the way to

the right hand side also the Hue so that

you can see which areas are being

affected and then you can expand the

range from right here

the range of colors that are selected if

this is all confusing to you don't worry

about it right now just play with it

just enjoy it and I have a master class

also about Hue saturation if you're

interested that you can watch after this

video so once you have selected the

range of colors that you want to Target

you can modify it according to your

liking let's make it black or gray up to

you I'm gonna make it black looks pretty

cool with that so here's the before

here's the after and then you have text

layers and shape layers which are vector

based you might ask what is a vector

well raster is a kind of graphic that is

made up of pixels if you zoom in you can

see the pixels for example this one

right you can see those boxes right here

Vector is a kind of graphic that is not

made up of pixels but based on

mathematics now since it's not based on

pixels by the way Adobe Illustrator is

one of the most popular programs to

create vector graphics and this is

illustrator

since it's not based on pixels no matter

how much you zoom in it will never

pixelate so I'm going to zoom in right

here so even if we are zoomed in let's

say

how much 64 000 it's not pixelated and

it will not text layers and shaped

layers are vector based does that mean

it will never pixelate in Photoshop of

course not because it's on a raster

canvas this canvas is made up of pixels

4000 by 4000 pixels so this is a text

layer right of course because of the

canvas it will show pixels however if

you make it larger for example if I

select the game text press controller

command T no matter how large I make it

it will not pixelate because of the

enlargement you get the point so in

Photoshop it's Vector based it is a

vector in a vaster canvas of course

similarly shape layers as well so let's

say I was to add a shape layer click on

the rectangle tool icon if you don't see

it click and hold in that group and you

will have all of these shapes let us

choose a rectangle and create a

rectangle right here let's do it this

way all right that's nice and you can

simply change the color by double

clicking right here and change the color

to whatever you wish so I'm going to

change the color to this one that looks

nice and you can use one of those points

around the corners to create a curve

that's also nice and this my friend is a

shape layer and you can tell it's a

shape layer by looking at this icon

right there you can tell a layer is a

text layer by looking at the T and you

can tell a layer is a smart object by

looking at this icon right here this

subject layer is a smart object so

that's all about the basics of layers in

Photoshop please use the chapters to

skip to any section of the video if

there's an area you don't understand

watch that again follow along and most

importantly enjoy have fun with it

download the practice files do your

experiments use your own images you are

the artist there should be nothing

controlling you nothing keeping you

inside of boundaries Break Free there

are some exciting topics inside of test

that we haven't covered yet because they

deserve their own class like fill like

layer Styles then there are so many

other things which we will cover in

future lessons thank you so much for

watching I hope you enjoyed it and if

you did make sure to give us a like and

also don't forget to subscribe and not

just subscribe ring the bell so that you

my friend don't miss any other feature

tips tricks or tutorials I would like to

take this moment to thank all of these

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piximperfect on patreon and helping keep

Pixel Perfect free for everybody forever

thank you so much for watching I'll see

you in the next one till then stay tuned

and make sure that you keep creating

foreign

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