Watch the video above then read the instruction below which document the actions taken in the video. The video above is intended as a visual indicator of where to go next, the detail of the tutorial is contained within the textual content of the page below:

Nice and easy this one but again it is a fundamental function within Photoshop, once you have a image with several Layers you need to know how to order them so that you have your most important image components to foreground or where you want them. Also the video above shows how to Merge Layers down onto the layer beneath, this is particularly useful when you have an image with many layers some of which can be merged with other layers as their relationship isn't going to change.

To start create a new image with several distinct layers.

The method for moving layer within the Layers Window is Drag & Drop, simply click and hold and drag the layer to where you want it to go. A heavy black line will appear between the layers as you drag you layer over them, this is to indicate that if you released your mouse button this is where the layer would be moved to.

As the Layer Order is changed you will see in your image that image is changing as different components come to the top of the layer stack.

Once you have the Layer Order that you are satisfied with and you are sure that their relationship will not have to change it can be useful to Merge Layers to help keep your image manageable. The options for Merging layers are:

• Merge Down
• Merge Visible
• Flatten Image

Merge Down allows you to merge the selected layer with the one beneath any overlapping data on the layer below will be lost.

Merge Visible allows you to exclude layers from a merge by clicking the eye icon on the layer that makes the layer invisible. This is useful when doing a group merge but need a specific layer to be excluded if further editing is required.

Flatten Image allows you to completely flatten the image down onto the background layer. Flattening your image can be useful for example if you have been working on several layers to compose a background for your image, once satisfied you can flatten the image to the background to simplify you image before going to work on a foreground composition.

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