Having Fun with FX

Happy Tuesday all! Today I just wanted to give you a few ideas using your fx dialog box, also called Layer Styles. Probably most of you have used a style. Did you know that you can create your own? In PS 5, double-click on a layer you want to add an effect to. The Layer Styles box pops open. It will default to the blending mode controls. On the left you will see what kinds of effects you can use. Click in the check box to add the default settings to your layer. But, wait a minute... what if you want to customize the style? Well that's simple...

Click on the title of the style- for instance, Drop Shadow. The right-hand side changes to the settings for drop shadows. You can adjust them however you want. If you want to change the default settings to your current settings, click on "Make Default" so that you can keep those settings for the future.

If you only want the settings for the current layout, you can copy and paste the style to different layers by right-clicking on the fx symbol in the layer palette.

Let's say you want to save several layer style options combined to use over and over. Once you have adjusted all of your settings, click on "New Style..." You'll name your style and then voila! You will be able to use the style in the future! How cool is that????