Layers, Groups, B&W plus Masks ~ What To Do & Not Do

[Digbydo]

I started working on an image, which I wanted to change from colour to Monochrome with a spot of colour left in it. I followed a tutorial and it all worked out fine however… having done all that I then spotted several things, which I wanted to make Darker or Lighter and even a few objects that I wanted to Clone Out or use the Inpainting Brush Tool to remove several objects.

Ended up with more adjustment layers as well as two more group layers (1 for dark & 1 for Light) However, I'm not at all sure if I've done it in the correct order because some of the parts of the image, which I've made darker are no longer shown as Dark when all layers have been 'ticked'.

 

So, the question or questions are …Is there a 'Set Way' to go about these two different alterations to an image? If there's not a set way then is there a tutorial out there some where that explains/teaches how and when to use different Layers? ~ What the Do's & Don's are ~ When to Group Layers and why? ~  On some tutorials, (some) Layers are 'Worked On' and then they're moved up or down the various other Layers and sometimes they are even bedded into or underneath another different Layer. 

A full & clear explanation of the above Layer, Layers, Groups & Masking workings would be brilliant not only for the image I'm working on but for all the various other effects that I will want to try & add to an image in the future. Thanks in advance

[Lee D]

Hi Digbydo,

 

Not sure if you have seen our video tutorials or not, but we have a few that cover Layers, I've included links below. Most tasks can be done several ways, it's finding the one that works best for you and improves your workflow. Sometimes you may need move layers to change the order or the blend mode or nest an adjustment in a layer so it only applies to that one.

• Layers - Beginners
• Layers Overview
• Layer Nesting
• Layer Concepts
• Layer Masks