How to Erase Layered Areas in Photoshop

If you are new to working with Layers in Photoshop, you will find it is very easy to erase specific parts of various layers using the Eraser tool. This will allow you to have artistic control over your photograph’s depth and opacity and help you to create rich and visually interesting photographs. You can also specify options of the tool for greater control.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Adobe Photoshop CS or earlier version
• Digitized photograph

1. First, make the layer you want to work on active by selecting it in the Layers Palette.

2. Select the “Eraser” tool from the Toolbox. It looks like a rectangular-shaped eraser. When you select it, several options will appear for the tool at the top of the program’s workspace.

3. You can choose settings for the Diameter (size) of the Eraser tool, as well as its Mode and Opacity. The size may depend on how large an area you want to erase. The Mode will relate to the shape of the eraser tool. You should play around with the types, Brush, Pencil or Block, to see which you prefer.

4. Choose the opacity of the eraser: from 0 to 100 percent, where 0 is none and 100 is total erasure.

5. Drag through the area on the layer that you want to erase. To see the layer without any of the other layers active, click on the eyeball to the left of each layer to turn it on or off.

Tips & Warnings

• You may want to experiment on copies of layers rather than on the original image until you get the hang of working with tool.