Photoshop Layers Tutorials

Learn all about layers in Photoshop with our ever-growing collection of Layers tutorials! This page offers our complete list of every tutorial we’ve written about layers, with our most recent tutorials listed first.

If you’re new to Photoshop and need to learn how to use layers from the beginning, you’ll want to check out our Photoshop Layers Learning Guide. The Layers Learning Guide features 10 tutorials designed to teach you everything you need to learn about layers, in the order you need to learn it!

Open Multiple Images As Layers In Photoshop

Learn how to quickly open multiple images into the same Photoshop document and have each image appear on its own separate layer!

How to Merge Layers in Photoshop Without Flattening Your Image

Need to merge layers in Photoshop? Don’t flatten the image and lose all your work. Learn how to merge a copy of your existing layers onto a separate layer!

Photoshop Layer Mask Basics For Beginners

Learn the basics of layer masks in Photoshop and how to use a layer mask to show or hide different parts of a layer.

Photoshop Layers Essential Power Shortcuts

From creating, copying and selecting layers to blend modes, clipping masks and more, learn how to speed up your Photoshop workflow with these essential layers shortcuts!

Creating A New Background Layer Action In Photoshop

Need to quickly free yourself from Photoshop’s Background layer limitations? Learn how to replace your default Background layer with a new one from scratch and how to save the steps as a time-saving action!

The Background Layer In Photoshop CC

In this tutorial in our Photoshop Layers series, learn all about the Background layer in Photoshop CC, why it’s different from normal layers, and how to get around its limitations.

Photoshop Layers Panel Essentials

Take a whirlwind tour of Photoshop’s Layers panel and learn the essential skills you need for working with layers!

Understanding Layers In Photoshop

New to Photoshop layers? In this easy-to-follow, step-by-step lesson, learn the basics of what layers are, how they work, and why knowing how to use layers is such an essential Photoshop skill.

Essential Layers Panel Preferences

Learn some simple tips for customizing your Layers panel in Photoshop to keep it free of unwanted clutter and create a cleaner, more efficient workspace.

Align and Distribute Layers In Photoshop

Learn how to easily and automatically align and distribute layers within a Photoshop document using the Align and Distribute options, and how layer groups make it easy to center multiple layers with the document itself!

Photoshop Layers – Layer Groups

As you add more and more layers to a document in Photoshop, your Layers panel can quickly become a cluttered mess of confusion. In this tutorial, learn how layer groups make it easy to keep things neat, tidy and organized!

Open Multiple Images As Photoshop Layers

Tired of dragging images from one Photoshop document to another? Learn how the Load Files into Photoshop Layers command, first introduced in Adobe Bridge CS4, can open multiple images at once as layers inside the same document!

Photoshop Layers – The Background Layer

Layers are easily Photoshop’s most important feature, but one special type of layer – the Background layer – comes with a few rules and limitations we need to be aware of to avoid confusion and frustration.

The Background Layer In Photoshop CS5

For Photoshop CS5 and earlier. Learn all about the Background layer in Photoshop, what makes it special, and how to get around its rules and limitations.

Photoshop CS5 Layers Panel Essentials

Take a whirlwind tour of the Layers panel in Photoshop and learn the essential skills you need for working with layers! For Photoshop CS5 and earlier.

Photoshop Layers Introduction

If there’s one thing every Photoshop user needs to know, it’s how to work with layers, Photoshop’s most powerful and important feature. In this intro to layers, we look at the difference between working with them and working without them!

Layer Opacity vs Fill in Photoshop

Photoshop’s Opacity and Fill options in the Layers panel both control the transparency of a layer, but in this tutorial, we learn the important difference between them when working with layer styles!

Understanding Layer Masks In Photoshop

Still permanently damaging your images with the Eraser Tool because you think layer masks are beyond your skill level? If you know the difference between black and white and can paint with a brush in Photoshop, you have all the skills you need!