Arranging and Modifying Layers
The most basic use for layers is to keep objects separated from each
other so you can modify their horizontal and vertical position as
well as their front-to-back arrangement. Photoshop also permits
you to transform layers by scaling, rotating, or even warping them
into all sorts of contortions, as we’ve seen in some previous lessons.
Composing this way has a long tradition in Western art. In fact, the
classical artist who I believe would have benefited most from layers
is the 16th-century imperial court painter Giuseppe Arcimboldo.
Regaled in his time as a master of the composite portrait, Arcim-
boldo rendered his subjects as fanciful collections of fruits, vegeta-
bles, flowers, trees, animals, meats—he even famously represented
one fellow upside-down (right image, Figure 5-3). We’ll embark on
something infinitely simpler, composition-wise—Giuseppe had to
thrill and delight Emperor Maximilian II, but happily we do not.
Even so, you’ll get an ample sense of just how much pure imaging
flexibility layers afford.
In the following exercise, you will begin the process of assembling
a layered piece of artwork. You’ll establish the content and order of
the initial layers in the composition, and in the process, learn how
to select layers, rearrange their order, duplicate them, and modify
their contents and appearance.Figure 5-3.132 Lesson 5: Working with Layers