How to use layers in a photo editor

A layer is a separate sheet stacked above your photo. Paint, text or an adjustment on one layer leaves every other layer untouched, so you can redo, hide or delete that one change without ever damaging the original image underneath. This is what makes an editor "non-destructive": you keep working in pieces instead of permanently altering one flat picture with every click.

The EditItAll photo editor is built around this model — layers, each with its own content, opacity and blend mode, all editable independently.

• Open the photo editor and load your image.
• Add a new layer and use any tool — the type tool for a caption, the brush for a retouch, an adjustment for color or levels — on that layer alone.
• Open the layers panel to see the full stack; drag a layer up or down to change what sits on top.
• Click a layer's visibility toggle to hide or show it, which is a fast way to compare a before and after.

Because each edit lives on its own layer, you can come back later and change just that one piece — say, restyle the caption from adding text to a photo — without redoing anything else.

Every layer has an opacity slider, so you can dial an edit back until it sits subtly over the photo instead of fully replacing it. Pair that with a blend mode — the editor has 27 — to change how a layer's colors combine with what's beneath it: Multiply darkens, Screen lightens, Overlay adds contrast, and so on. Together, opacity and blend mode are how a single flat retouch layer becomes a soft tint, a subtle vignette or a natural-looking correction instead of an obvious paste-on.

Your layered document auto-saves to your browser as you work, so closing the tab does not lose it. Exporting is the one irreversible step: PNG and JPG are flat formats, so export merges every visible layer into a single image. Keep working on the layered version, and only export when you're done.

One limit worth knowing: the editor does not open a .psd with its layers intact. Convert it with PSD to PNG first — that flattens the file, so its original layers are merged, not preserved, before you start building new ones here.