The Basics Of Photoshop: A Tutorial For Beginners

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Make sure you have a good understanding of all terms and techniques covered on this page before using our tutorials, as the techniques described here will be referred to in most tutorials.
Click a subject title to view information on that section. If you want information on a new section, use the link at the bottom of the page.

The Workspace

Layers

Layers are an integral element of Photoshop. They allow you to edit images more easily, and use transparency to its full effect. By default the background layer (Locked and labelled "Background") is white, and any subsequently created layers are transparent by default.

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The Layers Palette

Blending Modes

Clipping Layers

Clipping layers are very important and it is crucial to understand how to use them. This article will be referred to in several tutorials, so you might as well have a go at making a clipping layer now. Clipping layers only affect the area of the image that has been affected by the layer below. For an example of this see pretty much any tutorial on the site - tentacles are a prime example.
Create a new clipping layer above the current one by clicking the 'New Layer' button or pressing ctrl/cmd + shift + N. To make this into a clipping layer, hold alt and move the mouse cursor over the line separating the two layers in the layer box, as shown here.

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