Can I be a Professional and NOT have CS4?

[dcclark]

Adjustment layers are a feature of Photoshop in which certain things -- contrast, brightness, hue, etc. -- can be adjusted without actually changing the image. You add an "adjustment layer" for the property that you want to change, and the layer can be turned on or off -- effectively undoing the adjustment or redoing it -- just as with any other layer.

You can fake many such effects with regular layers, by making copies of your base layer and applying whatever effect you want to it.

[Free]

Originally Posted by bethard728

What are adjustment layers? I'm trying to learn Gimp right now. It's the first program I've used with any layers at all.

Adjustment layers are awesome! You put an adjustment layer over the layers you what you want make changes like B&W, curves, hue and all sorts of goodies. Because you're changing the photo by a layer on top of everything else, you can make changes to both the originals and the adjustment layer easily.

I wouldn't think that having Adobe CS was that important for a photog that works alone, as I'm guessing you don't share working copies? It's much more important for designers and the like that are sending PSDs across departments and organisations so the need for compatibility is a big issue.

If you're comfortable using Gimp or Elements or anything else, then use it, however switching to Photoshop CS will give you much more control.

[rhoraq]

Yeah can someone tell me what layers is too? I just downloaded gimp last night and aperture for apple adn saw layers or adjusting layers and I have no clue what that is. Thanks

[rhoraq]

sorry I read the comments about layers. I'm still a little confused though, I'm very new to this.

[dcclark]

Layers are pretty simple. An image can have multiple layers, each of which is essentially a separate image unto itself. Each layer can have anything you want in it (an image, drawing with the paintbrush, gradients, whatever you can do with the painting tools or image editing controls). Layers are stacked on top of each other -- there is a top layer, a bottom layer, and as many as you want in between. You can show or hide each layer as you wish.

The fun of layers comes from two main things: masks, and blending modes.

Masks are things you can add to a layer which determines which parts of that layer are visible, and which aren't. For example, let's say you have an image with a dark foreground and a correctly exposed sky. You could copy that image into a new layer, adjust it so that the foreground looks right (but now the sky is blown out), and then add a mask which allows only the foreground to show through. The result: the foreground shows through, and the sky of the other layer shows through, and together you have a well-exposed image.

Blending modes determine how a layer "blends" its colors, brightness, etc. with the layers below it. One cool example is this: suppose you have a bunch of images of the sky, taken at night. In each one, the stars appear. If you make each image a layer, and set each layer to "brighten only", then only the parts of each layer which are brighter than the ones below it will show through. The result is that the stars all show through, and you get star trails!

Another cool example of using blending modes is to create a layer which sharpens your image. You can find a great thread by wulf somewhere in the "How I Took It" section which describes the process. Combine such a layer with a mask, and you have selective sharpening which you can undo just by hiding the layer.

Hope that helps!

[bethard728]

@Free and dcclark: Thanks for your explanations on layers and adjustment layers. The info is still a little fuzzy to me but much clearer than before! Let me ask this, is the whole point of layers to be able to more easily "undo" one type of edit? For example, I was using Microsoft Digital Imaging Suite for editing and there are no layers involved. However, if I adjust hue and saturation, then levels, then contrast. When I finish those 3 things if I decide I want to go back to the original hue and saturation before I changed it, the only way to do so is to undo the contrast adjustment, undo the level adjustment and then undo the hue and saturation adjustment. If I understand correctly, with layers I could just go to the layer where I adjusted the hue and saturation and change it as I wish or delete that layer without messing up the other edits I made. Is that right?
@rhoraq: I am new to layers also but am learning pretty quick. It seems really overwhelming at first. I read a bunch of stuff that really made no sense to me so I finally just started using tutorials to do certain things. For example, vintage effects and sepia. Google for a tutorial for one of those in Gimp and then just follow it. It kind of helps you see a little more of what the layers are for. I still don't understand completely but much more than I did before. Hope that helps some!

[dcclark]

ONE advantage of layers is being able to "undo" edits. The main advantage, however, is the ability to create really cool effects and edits by "stacking" images together.

Also, it makes things easier to edit later. For example, in both Photoshop and Gimp, each time you add text, it's on its own layer. You can move it around independently of the rest of the image, edit it, change it, and it doesn't affect the rest of the image, because it's on its own layer.

[dcclark]

Incidentally, the best way to learn about layers is just to try -- play around, see how a mask works, and read some tutorials. There are a ton of Gimp and Photoshop tutorials online, and watching some videos showing how to do some simple adjustments may help make things clearer.

[bethard728]

Cool! Thanks!

[lputman]

I must admit that I've been forced to learn GIMP since my home pc is down and I can't load my software on my work pc. I did load GIMP on it and I must admit, I'm beginning to work with it a little better.