How to use Photoshop Layer Styles & Effects [Example]

In this article we will learn how to apply photoshop layer styles and how to share them between layers and how to utilize layer styles to make our content more appealing.

Here you can see some layer styles like “Bevel & Emboss”, ”Stroke”, ”Gradient Overlay” and ”Drop Shadow”.
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We can turn them on or off individually or all together.
And this fx icon indicates this layer have applied a layer style.
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To apply layer style to a layer you need to select the layer and go to “layer” menu then “layer style” and choose any of the layer styles you want to apply.
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And it will open the layer style panel where you are able to edit each and every layer style as per your requirement.
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Here I have already applied some layer styles like “Bevel & Emboss” I have got some option in that. I can easily edit them. then I got “stroke” and “gradient overlay” and “Drop shadow” . All this have their own and different customizable options.
If you want to add or subtract any layer style then just click on it.

One another way to apply layer styles is at the bottom of the layer panel. Have a look at this fx icon by clicking on this button you will have same options that you have seen in layer menu.
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share layer styles

Now let’s talk about share layer styles between two layers.
So here I have one more photoshop text styles layer “Free online Education”. There are many different ways to share layer styles.
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Here is a very quick way. Hold down the ALT key and grab the fx icon and drop it on the layer to which you want to apply same layer styles.
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It will copy and paste layer style in one single move.
One another way is just right click on the layer having layer styles and select “copy layer style” and go and right click your target layer and select “paste layer style”.
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Now if you think you don’t like this layer styles then you can easily grab “fx” icon and drag it to the “trash”. It will only delete layer styles and not a layer itself.

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One more way, you can simply right click on the layer and choose” clear layer style” and it will clear all the layer styles which you have applied on that layer.
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One more important thing is you can also detach layer styles from the layer.
For that you simply need to right click on “fx” icon and choose “create layers”. It will create layers for each and every layer styles those you have applied to your layer.
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You also can turn them on and off and you can work on them as separate layers.
One more thing about layer style is if the layer style is applied to a text layer then it is easily editable. so go ahead and retype, and you will get same effects on new typed word.[/size]