Closing Thoughts

I hope you this chapter has inspired you to go out and use Adjustment Layers. If you commit to using them, I expect you will soon be asking yourself, “How did I ever live without them?” Just know that you don't have to remember every single detail covered in this chapter to start getting immediate benefits from this versatile feature. The most important points to keep in mind are:

• Adjustment Layers are applied according to the stacking order of the Layers palette, with the bottom-most Adjustment Layer being applied first and the top-most one last.

• Double-click on the Adjustment Layer icon on the left side of the layer in the Layers palette to re-edit the adjustment.

• Paint with black to prevent the adjustment from applying to an area, or paint with white to allow it to affect an area.

• The Adjustment Layers will remain in your image as long as you save in a file format that supports layers such as Photoshop or TIFF.

If you're planning to use Adjustment Layers for the vast majority of adjustments that you'll be applying, make sure to visit Chapter 1, “Tool & Palette Primer” and learn how to reassign the keyboard shortcuts assigned to the commands that are found under the Image > Adjustments menu. Change them so that they end up creating Adjustment Layers instead of going directly to the adjustment's dialog box. (To assign a keyboard shortcut to particular type of Adjustment Layer, assign a keyboard command to the choices found in the Layer > New Adjustment Layer menu).