Adobe Photoshop CS5 for Photographers - Martin Evening [217]
Multiple layer opacity adjustments
With Photoshop CS5 if you make a selection of layers, you can use the Opacity or Fill adjustment to adjust the values for all the layers in a layer selection. However, you need to be aware that a multiple layer selection opacity adjustment will override any adjustments already made to individual layers. There are a few restrictions though. In the case of layer groups you'll only be allowed to make opacity changes, and locked layers won't allow changes for either Opacity or Fill. Where these restrictions apply in a layer selection, the most restrictive layer controls which fields are available to edit. So if you try this out and it doesn't appear to work, it may be because you have a locked layer selected.
Layer linking
When working with two or more layers you can link them together by creating links via the Layers panel. Start by -clicking on the layers to select contiguous layers, or -clicking to select discontiguous layers. At this point you can move the selected layers, apply a transform or make the layers form a new layer group. However, if you need to make the layer selection linking more permanent, the layers can be formally linked together by clicking on the Link button at the bottom of the Layers panel (Figure 9.36). When two or more layers are linked by layer selection or formal linking, any moves or transform operations are applied to the layers as if they were one. However, they still remain as separate layers, retaining their individual opacity and blending modes. To unlink them, select the layer (or layers) and click on the Link button to turn the linking off.
Figure 9.36 To link two or more selected layers, click on the Link button at the bottom of the Layers panel (circled).
Selecting all layers
You can also use the shortcut to select all layers (except a Background layer) and make them active.
Layer selection using the move tool
When the move tool is selected and the ‘Auto-Select’ and ‘Layer’ options checked in the move tool options, you can auto-select layers by clicking or dragging in the image (Figure 9.37), plus you can use the contextual menu to auto-select specific layers (Figure 9.38). You can also use + right mouse-click to auto-select layers when the move, marquee, lasso or crop tool are selected.
Figure 9.37 When ‘Auto-Select Layer’ is checked, you can marquee drag with the move tool from outside the document bounds to make a layer selection of all the layers within the marqueed area, but the move tool marquee must start from outside the document bounds, i.e. you must start from the canvas area and drag inwards. In the example shown here, the ‘Auto-Select’ and ‘Group’ options were checked and only the layer groups that came within the marquee selection were selected by this action.
Figure 9.38 When the move tool is selected, you can use the contextual menu to select individual layers. Mouse down on the image using right mouse-click to access the contextual menu shown here and click to select a named layer. The contextual options will list all of the layer groups in the document plus just those layers within the layer group (indented) that are immediately below the mouse cursor.Client: Hitachi/Ogilvy & Mather Direct. Model: Lidia @ MOT.
Auto-select shortcut
If ‘Auto-Select Layer’ is unchecked, you can toggle the behavior by holding down the key as you click or drag using the move tool.
Selecting Similar layers
The ‘Select Similar Layers’ option allows you to select layers that are of a similar kind, i.e. if a type layer is selected, the ‘Select Similar Layers’ option will select all other type layers