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Combining Layers & Save

5. You did everything you needed to do and now you are trying to save the file. However, you can only save in .PSD format and you are thinking why? It is because your image is still consisting more than one layer. In order to solve this, you need to go into the Layer menu on the top and choose Flatten Image. But once you Flatten an image, you cannot go back and undo unless you go into the Edit menu and Undo Flatten Image right after. So be very caution before you decide to Flatten an image. The best to do is save your .PSD first and then Flatten image. After you flatten your image, you can now save in different file formats (.jpg, .bmp, .pcx etc.). Or you can go to the File menu, Export and do Gif89a Export to save in .GIF format. You do not need to Flatten image if you export in GIF format.

Inversing

6. Sometimes you want to select an image then copy & paste to a different image. You can easily do that by using the Magic Wand Tool to select the object and then copy & paste. But you realize you can only do that if your object consist of only one color.

Example 6a - Using Magic Wand Tool, you can select that yellow square easily. What if you have an image with many colors?

One very useful technique is to first select the background, then go into Select menu and choose Inverse. You image will be selected but not the background.

Example 6b - Using Magic Wood Tool to first select the white background. The entire image is select except the pictures. Now go into Select menu and choose Inverse. The pictures are selected for you to copy and paste.

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