One of the most exciting and wonderful features of Corel Paint Shop pro X2 is it’s layer control functions.

Layers are very a useful and powerful tool used by photographers and Desktop Publishers alike. Layers are like separate sheets that you combine to create a final composition. For most simple corrections and retouching, you do not have to add layers to an image.

However, it is a good practice to duplicate the single layer before making image corrections, so that you preserve the original image on its own layer. If you intend to do more complex work — such as adding elements to the image, creating photo compositions, adding text, or applying other effects — the use of layers is highly recommended.

A case in point: A few years back I was in a region of Australia which possessed the most spectacular beach rock formations. You will take note that in our Before image, I was hell bent on getting correct exposure on my subject matter correct.

The middle of the day is not the best time to take landscape photographs, however, I had no options but to shoot at that point in time. Heavy contrast conditions meant that something had to be sacrificed. Well, it had to be the sky. Understanding layers and their functions allowed me to add a beautiful sky later. With a little Duo-tone treatment, I was able to create an image that reflected what I saw through the viewfinder, even though the sensor couldn’t cope with the range.

Layer Basics
So, let’s learn the basics of layers. There are nine types of layers: Background, Raster, Vector, Art Media, Mask, Adjustment, Group, Selection, and Floating Selection. Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo supports up to 500 layers. The actual number of layers allowed in an image may be limited by the available memory in your computer.

In this article we will learn about the Background layer and one other single Raster layer. That’s all we need to know at present in order to replace our burnt out sky with a beautifully exposed and dramatic one.

We would have to dedicated a whole issue of this magazine to Layers to explain all the functions & benefits of layer control. Because that is not possible, we hope the information in this article will allow you to begin a wonderful learning experience. Remember, this is just a start in fulfilling layer potential. OK lets do it.

Lets begin by opening your main image. This will become the background layer. Figure 1. The image we need to open first is the Image with the correctly exposed sky. Press F8 and the layer control palette will open. You will note that in Figure 2 our image is the Background Layer in the Layer Palette.

Of course, as with most Windows applications, you can move the Layer palette wherever you like on your working environment. Next, open the file with your subject, in our case it is the rock formations.

Once again you will note that the rocks are the Background layer as shown in the Layer Palette. Now we have to insert our rock image into the same file as our Sky Image. This is a simple process. You now have 2 separate files or images that are open in Paint Shop pro. Click in the Image that is the subject matter to make it active. From the pull down menu: Edit>Copy or Ctrl C. Now we have copied our subject into the computers memory. To insert it into our Sky image, from the pull down menu again: Edit> Paste as New layer or Ctrl V. You will note that you now have 2 layers in the image of our Sky. I renamed the layers to help us understand what has happened thus far. Figure 3 demonstrates that our Rocks image is sitting on top of our sky. That’s exactly what we want. What we need to do now is simply cut away the sky that we don’t want anymore to reveal the preferred sky underneath. Ooh, this is getting exciting!!

Firstly, make sure that your images are sitting exactly over one another. My overexposed sky allowed me to use the Magic Wand tool to select my unwanted sky. There are numerous other ways to select which we will cover in another edition. Once you have selected your unwanted sky or made your selection, it is strongly advised to feather the selection to make it more natural and pleasing to the eye. To do this, from the pull down menu: Selections >Modify>Feather. Select the amount of pixels you want to blend in with. The size of your image, the effect you are trying to achieve and other factors will determine the correct amount of feather. Trial and error is the best policy. Once we have feathered, we simply cut away the unwanted sky. Edit>Cut.

It’s that easy!! Understanding layer control opens up another world into photo editing. It is often the key to both simple and complex photo editing routines. And, as you can see, the Sky is actually not the Limit with Corel Paint Shop pro X2. In fact, the only limit is your imagination!

Entry was posted on Sunday, November 23rd, 2008 at 9:58 pm under Graphics editors, Paint Shop Pro, Tutorials.  Print This Post