Select

Selecting a layer is one of the easiest, but one of the most important skills in Photoshop. If you have not selected the correct layer when you edit or move them, you do not get the result you expect.
So here is some golden advice, give the layer an appropriate name.

To select a layer, click in the “Layers” panel, I already told you that.
When a layer is selected, it is equipped with a blue background (1), and the name of the selected layer is in the title bar of the image (2).

To select several superimposed layers, hold the Shift key on your keyboard pressed. For not selecting several superimposed layers, hold the Ctrl key on your keyboard pressed. Why would you want to select multiple layers?
For example if you want to move something in the picture, or if you want to scale a part of the picture, or when you want all the text layers to reflect the change in the font. You see plenty of reasons.

If you have multiple layers selected that you want to deselect, hold the Ctrl key on your keyboard while you click.

To quickly switch between a selected tool in the tool bar and the “Move” tool, temporarily hold the Ctrl key on your keyboard pressed.
To move layers in a more precise way, you can use the arrow keys on your keyboard.
A click on an arrow key moves the layer one pixel. If you hold the Shift key pressed, it will be moved by 10 pixels.

Another way to select a layer is, by means of the “Auto-Select”.
For this, first select the tool “Move” in the tool bar.
When this tool is selected, we find “Auto Select” in the options bar.
When you select this (1), and select “Layer” in the drop-down menu (2), then you can select the layer containing an object by clicking on an object in the image.
Attention! The must back off from the “Auto Select” option, when you no longer want to use it.
To align layers with each other, we use the alignment buttons (3) in the options bar.
To view the contents of different layers to transform, check the box ” Show Transform Controls” (4). This way you can adjust the size of all objects in all selected layers in a fairly quick way.

Going back to “Auto Select”.
A quicker way is to select “Auto Select” and click the Ctrl key on your keyboard. The only requirement is that the “move” tool is selected.
The disadvantage is that you must always disable the option, when you no longer wish to use it.

Another way to select layers is by using the option “Similar layers”. This option can be found under the “Select” button in the menu bar.
What this does is, it selects all layers of the same type in the “Layers” section.
For example, if you selected a text layer and clicked this option, it will select all text layers in your image.

TIP
When you work with dozens of layers, it can sometimes be difficult to select the appropriate layer.
Here is the solution.
Right-click in the image and Photoshop will show you a list with all the layers that are under your mouse pointer.
Select the layer in the list.

Remove

To remove a layer, you can drag it to the trash can icon in the menu bar at the bottom of the “Layers” panel.
Another way is to first hide the layer, you know, by clicking the eye icon.
Then click on “Layer” in the menu bar, you choose “Delete” from the drop-down menu, and click on “Hidden layers”. This will delete all layers that are hidden.
Another way is to select the layer, and click the Delete key on your keyboard.
Warning, this way you will get no warning. The only way to return it to is, to click the “Edit” button in the menu bar and choosing “Undo …” from the drop-down menu, or by the “History” panel.

Stacking Order Change

To change the stacking order of a layer, click and drag it in the “Layers” panel to the desired position.
When the edge of the dragged layer darkens, release the mouse button.
The only layer you can not move is the background layer. If you like to do this you must first make a normal layer of it.
I already told you how to do that in the previous lesson.

Another way is to select the layer, click in the menu bar on the “Layer”, then select “Arrange” in the drop-down menu and click on the option you want to perform.
“Bring Forward” brings this layer up and “Send Backward” a layer down.
The options “Bring to Front” and “Send to Back” seem obvious to me.
And with the option “Reverse”, the stacking order of selected layers is reversed. For this, of course, at least two layers should have been selected.
The keyboard shortcuts for these actions, you can see in the image below.

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