duplicating a photo

[lindaf]

I was wondering what the purpose of duplicating a layer more than 1 time. Ive seen examples where the layer had to be duplicated 4 times. Does it help to darken a photo?

[msbrad]

Hi Linda,
I've duplicated a layer more than once on several occasions. It depends on what you want it to look like. Hope that doesn't sound too dumb.
For example, earlier today I took a rather dark photo, and duplicated the layer and changed the blend mode to screen. Then it was too light, so I lowered the opacity. Well, I still wasn't happy so I duplicated it again-this time changed the blend mode to hue, and I liked it much better.
I've also used multiply more than once to darken something.
Hope this makes some sense.
m

[Bayla]

Linda,

Just duplicating an image won't make it darker unless as Michelle says you have changed the blend mode. I recently tried out the Orton effect for Kimi's creative Homework #13. The final instruction was to change the top layer's blend mode to multiply. I felt it was too dark, so I duplicated the top layer & changed that to screen which made everything lighter....but then I lowered the opacity which allowed the darker (multiply) layer to show through a bit until I was happy with how it looked.

Bayla

[lindaf]

So, theres no rule of thumb of when to do it? Im trying to learn when i should say to myself MMMMM maybe it will work if i duplicate the layer again. Does that make sense?

[winclk]

i use screen mode to brighten a dark photo and multiply to darken a light photo.

i hope i understand this correctly.

[Bayla]

So, theres no rule of thumb of when to do it? Im trying to learn when i should say to myself MMMMM maybe it will work if i duplicate the layer again. Does that make sense?

I really can't give a definitive answer. If you try some of the tutorials in the subscriber area, you'll often find you need to duplicate, merge down, duplicate again and again, applying filters and changing blend modes. A lot of the time I just experiment - I think what if I duplicate this...and it works or I undo & try something else. And like many things in PSE, there's always more than one way of acheiving any particular effect. Sorry I can't be more explicit than that!

Bayla

[lindaf]

Thank you all for your help. Im finding out that this is all basically all trial & error. I will just keep experimenting without thinking that i must be doing it wrong.

[jlwilm]

One of the first things I did about a year aho, with the prompting of a friend, was to sign up the the Using Layers in Photoshop Elements.

It was an eye opener and well worth the cost. Experimenting is fine, but this is a very good reference and will explain a lot of the stuff this thread is talking about.

Check out the Layers Course (http://www.photoshopelementsuser.com/training_courses/layers.html)