Grasping layers is like trying to drive a car, it appears impossible at first, but in a short while and with a little practice it comes as second nature. The layers principal is much the same in Photoshop 4, 5 and 6 so while there may be a few minor differences in how the palettes look the basics of layers remain the same.

Imagine you have a picture of a sky on the bench in front of you like the one below.

Imagine laying a thin sheet of clear plastic on top of this sky. If you then cut out a hot air balloon from another picture and lay it on the clear plastic, the sky not covered by the balloon will be seen as well as that balloon just like the one below.

Imagine laying a second sheet of clear plastic on top of the first one and cutting out another balloon and placing that on top. You now have three layers, the background (Sky), the second layer (Yellow Balloon) and the third layer (the Blue Balloon). The 3 separate layers look like one when viewed together because you are looking through transparent layers as we show below.

We can now move the balloons anywhere on their own layer overlapping them if we wish. The separate layers are shown in the layers palette as thumbnails shown below so you can keep track of a multi layered image.

You are now free to change each of the separate layers in any way you wish without affecting the other layers in the image. You can size the balloon, affect the colour, shape in fact any manipulation can be applied to each individual layer in your stack.

Adding one picture to another to make a layered composition sounds complicated when you see it written as text, but it really is very simple drag and drop process. Make sure you have the two layers that you want to amalgamate on screen along with the layers palette, The F7 key will bring up the layers palette. (See below) Select the image that you want on top by clicking inside the picture area (Red balloon). That image will then appear as a thumbnail in your layers palette. Place the mouse over the thumbnail, hold the left mouse button down and drag the thumbnail into the other image (sky) and release the button.

Photoshop copies the dragged image (red Balloon below) and creates the new layer. The original Red balloon can now be closed down by clicking the black X top right as it is no longer required. Tip. When I make a transparency of a object like these balloons I always save it to an oddments file. Some time later you may need to use it again and having it saved in this oddment file saves a lot of time. You can have as many layers as your system can cope with, but start slowly until your skill levels build. Remember, you cannot make a transparency with the background layer. If you wish to do so, change the name of that layer by double clicking on the word background. Any layer name can be changed in this way.

In a multi layered image the layer order can be changed by dragging one layer up or down the layers palette into the position you want.(See below) Each individual layer or object on a layer can be changed using the tools of Photoshop without affecting other layers. That is the basics of layers, stick with it and experiment because once the penny drops you would be amazed at the effects and images you can create in Photoshop Layers.