Getting Jazzy with Layer Styles and Clipping Groups in Photoshop

After you have all the basic elements in your layered composite image, you may want to give it a little pizzazz and finesse. Maybe a headline would pop out a little more if you beveled the edge, or maybe that silhouetted image would take on a little more dimension if you placed a drop shadow behind it. But remember the old adage, less is more. Just because you can do something doesn’t necessarily mean you should. I mean, if you bevel and shadow everything, your image may go from well done to overdone.

Layer Styles Basics
In the old days, creating a drop shadow in Photoshop took a concerted effort. And beveled or embossed type? Well, let’s just say you really had to have the inside scoop on some Photoshop tricks. Now, however, Photoshop makes creating these kinds of effects as easy as selecting an option. You may see the terms effect and style used interchangeably. Technically, Adobe says that after layer effects have been applied to a layer, they become part of a layer’s style. As far as I’m concerned, effects create a style, so, for the purposes of this chapter, the terms are one and the same.

You can apply layer effects to regular layers, shape layers, fill layers, and type layers, but not to backgrounds, locked layers, or layer sets. Layer effects are dynamically linked to the contents of a layer. If you move or edit the contents of the layers (even just to change the letters of your type), the effects are updated. When you apply effects, they become part of the layer’s style. A styled layer has a florin symbol (which looks like a fancy letter f) next to the layer’s name in the Layers palette. You can expand (to view the individual effects) or collapse the layer style by clicking the triangle icon next to the florin. If you create a style so fantastic that you want to save it for later use, you can do that by saving a custom style as a preset and storing it in the Styles palette.

Introducing Layer Styles
Layer effects fall into a few categories. You can add shadows, glow effects, beveled and embossed edges, overlay colors and patterns, and, of course, tweak to your heart’s content. The following sections give you the basics. I go into detail on each layer style later in this chapter, and I show you the effects in full-color glory in the color insert.

Shadows
Shadows add a soft drop or inner shadow to a selection or the contents of a layer. You can adjust the blend mode, color, opacity, angle, size, and contour of the shadow to suit your needs.
- Drop Shadow: Applies a shadow behind the elements.
- Inner Shadow: Adds a shadow that falls inside the edges of the elements, making them look recessed.

Glow effects
Glows add a soft highlight that appears either on the outside or inside edges of a selection or the contents of a layer. Like shadows, you can fine-tune the appearance of the glow by adjusting numerous options.
- Outer Glow: Applies a glow around the outside edges of the elements.
- Inner Glow: Adds a glow around the inside edges of the elements.

Beveled, embossed, and satiny looks
Bevels create a 3-D edge on either the outside or inside edges of a selection of the contents of a layer, giving the element some dimension. Similarly, emboss effects make elements appear as though they are raising off or are punched into the page. Satin is intended to create a satiny or draped fabric effect over your element. All these effects offer numerous options to adjust their appearances.
- Outer Bevel: Creates a 3-D raised edge around the outer edges of the elements.
- Inner Bevel: Makes a 3-D edge on the inside edge of the elements.
- Emboss: Combines the inner and outer bevels’ effects to give the illusion that the elements are raised off the page.
- Pillow Emboss: Reverses an inner bevel making it seem that the elements are stamped or punched in along the edges and raised in the center.
- Stroke Emboss: Applies an emboss to a stroke made via the Stroke layer style.
- Satin: Applies a shading to the inside shape of the elements, creating a satiny appearance.

Overlays and Stroke
Overlays apply a fill of color, a gradient, or a pattern over your selection or the contents of your layer. You can adjust the opacity of the overlay, among other options, to allow your original element to show through more clearly. You can also surround your element with a stroke consisting of color, gradient, or pattern:
- Color Overlay: Covers the elements with a color.
- Gradient Overlay: Covers the elements with a gradient.
- Pattern Overlay: Covers the elements with a pattern.
- Stroke: Outlines the elements with a color, gradient, or pattern.