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A
anne-marier10039845
Participant
January 17, 2018
Answered

Layer Styles in PSE13

  • January 17, 2018
  • 1 reply
  • 597 views

I have a cyber  friend using PSE13 and when she adds a shadow style to one layer  it alters the shadows in all layers on her open canvas even though she only was the one layer selected.

I have PSE15 and it does not do this for me.

What might she be doing incorrectly?

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    Correct answer hatstead

    Tell her to select the object that is to have the drop shadow and place it on a separate layer (CTRL+J). Then, apply the drop shadow to this layer, and refine it via the Style settings dialog.

    1 reply

    hatstead
    hatsteadCorrect answer
    Inspiring
    January 17, 2018

    Tell her to select the object that is to have the drop shadow and place it on a separate layer (CTRL+J). Then, apply the drop shadow to this layer, and refine it via the Style settings dialog.

    A
    anne-marier10039845Author
    Participant
    January 19, 2018

    Thankyou for your reply.

    It ended up being the fact that the shadow style she was using was not the default one in the program so the designer who created it must have someone set it to alter all layers.  She tried the default shadow style and was able to alter just one layer and it did not affect the others.

    Jeff Arola
    Community Expert
    Jeff ArolaCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    January 19, 2018

    The issue has to do with whether Global Light is on or off in the Layer Style. Something that unfortunately cannot be turned on/off since version photoshop elements 5.

    The Drop Shadow Layer Styles in the Effects>Styles panel have Global Light always turned off

    The Drop Shadow Layer Style you get from going to Layer>Layer Style>Style Settings always has Global light on.

    What the photoshop manual says about Global Light in layer styles

    " Use Global Light

    This setting allows you to set one “master” lighting angle that is then available in all the layer effects that use shading: Drop Shadow, Inner Shadow, and Bevel and Emboss. In any of these effects, if Use Global Light is selected and you set a lighting angle, that angle becomes the global lighting angle. Any other effect that has Use Global Light selected automatically inherits the same angle setting. If Use Global Light is deselected, the lighting angle you set is “local” and applies only to that effect. You can also set the global lighting angle by choosing Layer Style > Global Light. "

    So as you surmised, the person that created the layer style she was using had Global Light checked.

    Photoshop's Layer Styles dialog showing the Global Light setting for Drop Shadow with the lighting angle adjustment to the left of that.

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