Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 6-10. After isolating an object on its own layer, you may want to paint only on the object,
for example, and not on the transparent part of the layer. Left: On a regular layer, paint goes
wherever your brush does. Right: With the layer's transparency locked, the brushstroke stops at the
edge of the seashell, even though the brush cursor (the circle) is on the transparent part of the lay-
er.
To lock the transparent parts of a layer, activate the layer, and then, at the top of the Layers
panel, click the “Lock transparent pixels” icon—the smaller blue padlock with a checker-
board next to it. (It's grayed out if the active layer doesn't have any transparent parts.) When
you do, the same icon appears in the panel to the right of the layer's name, and Elements puts
a gray border around the icon at the top of the panel. To unlock the layer, activate it in the
Layers panel, and then click the padlock-and-checkerboard icon at the top of the panel again.
Blend Modes
At the top of the Layers panel is an unlabeled drop-down menu that's usually set to Normal
(and, in the New Layer dialog box, there's a Mode menu that's usually set to Normal). This
is your
blend mode
setting. When used with layers, blend modes control how the objects on a
layer combine, or
blend
, with the objects on the layer(s) beneath them. By using different
blend modes, you can make an image lighter or darker, or even make it look like a poster
with just a few bold colors in it. Blend modes can also control how some tools—those with
blend mode settings—change your image. Tweaking a tool's blend mode can sometimes dra-
matically change your results.
