PE2: Using a duplicate or a new layer?

RH
Posted By
Richard Hirschman
Aug 1, 2003
Views
135
Replies
6
Status
Closed
Another newbie question concerning PE2: I am a bit confused as to when you use a duplicate of the background layer or a new layer. For example, if I want to sharpen, blur or tint on a new layer, when and why would I choose to do these operations or other operations on a duplicate (of the background) layer or on a new layer?
Thanks.
Richard Hirschman
Related Tags
duplicate photoshop elements layer new

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CS
Chuck Snyder
Aug 1, 2003
Richard: A new layer is an empty layer, while a duplicate of the background has the same image information as the background layer. To blur or sharpen, you need to have some pixels present in the layer; therefore, blur and sharpen won’t do anything with a New (Empty) Layer. On the other hand, you can fill a New Layer with a color, change it to Color Mode and tint the underlying image. Depends on what you want to do…

Chuck
RH
Richard Hirschman
Aug 2, 2003
Hi Chuck,
Thanks for your patience with my naive question. "Of course that’s it," I said to myself after reading your answer but for some reason it didn’t click before I read it. It’s all new to me and your answer helped orient me.
Thanks again.
Richard
NS
Nancy S
Aug 2, 2003
Richard,

Not terribly related, but…you might want to try using the Unsharp Mask with amount around 10-20 and radius around 30-50…this global contrast increase really adds snap to some images, try it with the layer in luminosity mode.
NS
Nancy S
Aug 2, 2003
Richard,

You not only have ‘an inquiring mind’ and a sharp intellect, you are very thoughtful. Personally, I find your questions very thought provoking.

Nancy
B
bluegaga
Aug 2, 2003
Nancy…I tried your "recipe", unsharp-etc, and it is wonderful!!! Tested on several images…it adds a sparkle-snap just like you said it would!

Thank you so much…Dorothy
NS
Nancy S
Aug 3, 2003
Dorothy,

Glad it worked out for you too 🙂

Nancy

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