PS Doesn't seem to be adding transparent canvas

[amindthatsuits]

Hey, there:

I am going through Julianne Kost's excellent into to Photoshop 2020 on Linkedin.  I am quite sure I am following what she says to add a tansparent layer to the canvas.  I hit the lock icon on the background in the Layers panel and I get a layer, just like in the video.  Then I click in the image to set the crop and then drag out while pressing opt+shift, the checkerboard pattern should appear.  Instead, I get what looks like white background.  What am I doing wrong?

Thanks.

Kenneth

[Chuck Uebele]

It could be that the transparency setting in your preferences is set not to show the checkerboard pattern. 

[amindthatsuits]

That's interesting because I haven't touched preferences. It should be "factory settings."  But it sounds like a reasonable suggestion so I will try that.   Thanks very much. 

[amindthatsuits]

Thanks--under preferences, Grid-size, it said, "none."  I chose a different size and  one appeared.  Will try the exercise again later.

[Chuck Uebele]

If it's set to none, your background will be white.

[PECourtejoie]

Hello, in the option bar of the crop tool, uncheck "Delete Cropped Pixels", or Photoshop temporarily creates a white background layer (check your layers panel as you use the crop tool)

[PECourtejoie]

(that also means that you will have a larger file than expected when cropping down, and that you can go back and "un-crop")

[amindthatsuits]

Thanks.  I have to go back and go through the steps in the lesson, but I believe that I did that.  My picture doesn't seem to go up that far.  However, I tried it so many times, I may have accidentally had it checked, so I will watch for that.  Or test what happens with both things, which is something I am always nervous about doing when trying something new.

[jane-e]

"which is something I am always nervous about doing when trying something new."

Don't be nervous! Here are some things you can do if (when) you've messed things up:

• Reset the tools: right-click the icon in the options bar (not Tools panel) and reset the current tool or all tools
• Type "D" to reset the Swatches to the defaults of black and white (when painting on a mask)
• Reset your panels using the workspace switcher in the upper right or Window > Workspace
• Reset PS to the factory settings by going to Preferences > General > Reset Preferences on Quit
• Ask here in a new thread

[amindthatsuits]

Very helpful.  I've sent so many tools off the deepend already and I learned the joy of hitting "reset tool."  Only way to learn.

Thanks again.

Kenneth