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Overlay an Object in Photoshop CS6

Edited by Freya, Amanda, Eng

3 Parts:

Steps

Video: Overlay an Object in Photoshop CS6

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You're watching VisiHow. In this video, I'm going to show you how you can overlay an object in Photoshop CS6 in Windows 7. To begin, you should already have Photoshop CS6 open. Then, either open a new document or open an existing document. I've shown you how to do that in other videos. I've already got a document open. It has two layers, a background layer and "Layer 1". It's just a basic shape.

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Overlay an object in Photoshop CS6.mp4-canvas283 056.jpg

Steps

1
Click on the layer that needs editing
.
For us, this is "Layer 1". The selected layer will be highlighted in blue in the panel on the right-hand side of the screen.

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2
Double-click on the layer in the right-hand panel
.
Don't double-click on the title, as that brings up the option to rename the layer.

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3
Alternatively, right-click on the layer
.
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4
Click "Blending Options..."
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This brings up a pop-up window called "Layer Style". The double-clicking method also brings up this same window.

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5
Look at the options on the left-hand side
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There are three overlay options. Let's preview them briefly.
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6
Click "Color Overlay"
.

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7
Click "Gradient Overlay"
.
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8
Click "Pattern Overlay"
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Note that each time we click, it puts a checkmark in the box. When we click another option, it adds a new checkmark. Right now, we have three overlays selected simultaneously.

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9
Click again on the three overlay options to deselect them
.
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10
Click again on "Color Overlay"
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We'll start with this.
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11
Look at the color
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Ours is red. This is because we have red selected in the bottom left-hand corner of the screen.
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12
Click on the colored rectangle in the "Layer Style" window
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By default, this box might be black. This brings up the "Color Picker" pop-up.
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13
Use the "Color Picker" as normal
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We have demonstrated how to use this tool in another tutorial. Let's go for a pink.
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14
Click "OK" in the top right-hand side of the "Color Picker"
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15
Look at the "Blend Mode"
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The default setting is "Normal".
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16
Click on the dropdown menu next to "Blend Mode" to view other modes
.
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17
Click on a mode to select it
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This will depend on the style we're going for. In this case, because we've just got a flat color, it's really only changing the color. If we had maybe a photograph or something more detailed, it can have quite interesting effects. It might use a background layer with a pattern as well as the selected layer with a pattern. Go through and select whatever looks interesting.
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18
Click, hold, and drag the slider next to "Opacity"
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This changes the opacity of the overlay.
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19
Slide the opacity to 0%
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This means it has no opacity, so it is transparent. Our rectangle is showing in its original color, with no visible overlay.
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20
Slide the opacity to 100%
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This gives the overlay 100% opacity, so the overlay completely obscures the original color.
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21
Slide the opacity to somewhere near the middle
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This gives some opacity and some transparency, which blends the colors. We can also type a percentage directly into the field.
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22
Look at the two buttons beneath the "Opacity" option
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We have the option to "Make Default" or "Reset to Default". If we click "Make Default", it keeps our settings this way every time we open up this window. We wouldn't really recommend that unless we need to do the same thing over and over again. If we click "Reset to Default", it gets rid of everything we just did and takes it back to how it was before.
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23
To exit, click "OK" near the top right corner of the screen
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For this tutorial, we are not going to do that. We are going to show the next two overlays.
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24
Click "Gradient Overlay"
.
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25
Click the dropdown menu next to "Blend Mode"
.
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26
Click on modes to experiment with them
.
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27
Click, hold, and drag on the slider next to "Opacity" to adjust the opacity
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Again, we can also change the opacity by clicking in the adjacent field and typing in a percentage.
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28
Click on the dropdown menu next to "Gradient"
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29
Click on an image to select a gradient style
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Each image shows a preview of the style, which will also show in the bar for the dropdown menu.
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30
Click on one with a checkered pattern
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The checkered pattern represents transparency. This gradient would go from one color into a transparency.
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31
Look at the image on the canvas as different gradient styles are selected
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We can get some very interesting colors and layers happening. We can only see this very slightly on our canvas at the moment. We will increase the opacity to 100% so we can see the effects better. There are ways to customize the gradient style, but we'll go through that in another tutorial.
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32
Click the dropdown menu next to "Style"
.
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33
Click a style option
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"Linear" is the default. "Radial" is circular. "Angle", "Reflected", and "Diamond" are also options. "Reflected" is like a mirror. "Diamond" is like a diamond shape radiating out from the center. It's very subtle in our demonstration with the colors we've chosen.
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34
Click on the field next to "Angle" and type in a new angle
.
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35
Click, hold, and drag the slider next to "Scale"
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Dragging to the right makes a gradient with bigger elements. Dragging to the left makes a gradient with smaller elements. Alternatively, click in the adjacent box and type in a percentage.
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36
Again, there is the option to make it the default setting, reset everything, or click "OK" to apply and close
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Let's continue to the next overlay without clicking any of those options.
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37
Click "Pattern Overlay"
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This is probably the most interesting of all of them.
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38
Click on the dropdown menu next to "Blend Mode" and click modes to select them
.
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39
Click, hold, and drag on the slider next to "Opacity" to adjust opacity
.
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40
Click the downward-pointing arrow next to "Pattern" and the image shown
.
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41
Click on a different thumbnail to change the pattern
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We have a sort of bubble pattern, a psychedelic pattern, and so on. We can also add patterns to Photoshop.
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42
Click the little button directly to the right of the image
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This presets the pattern if we need to, if it's not already popping up as a common thing.
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43
Change the "Scale"
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We can use the slider or type in the field to do this. Again, this isn't showing up on ours. This would make a huge difference depending on what is being used and what the goals are.
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44
Look at the "Link with Layer" button
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We have the option to link the overlay with the layer or not by clicking in the adjacent box.
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45
Click "OK"
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We could also click "Make Default" or "Reset to Default", as before.
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46
Look at the layer on the right-hand side
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We can see the three overlays added. Each one has an icon of an eye next to it, which means it is visible.
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47
Click on the eye next to "Color Overlay"
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This makes the color overlay invisible.
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48
Click on the eye next to "Gradient Overlay"
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Again, this makes the gradient overlay invisible. Now, we can only see the "Pattern Overlay".
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49
Click on the eye next to "Pattern Overlay"
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Now all overlays are invisible, and we are looking at our original image.
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50
This is a VisiHow video
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I've just shown you how you can create and edit an overlay in Photoshop CS6 in Windows 7. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to add them to the section below, and we'll do our best to get back to you.
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