Photoshop Ninja
Expert Photoshop tips and tricks for designers and photographers since 2005
Photoshop troubleshooting – why is my Photoshop layer style or effect not working?
Layer styles are very powerful in Photoshop giving you access to fully editable effects that can auto update as layer data changes – but sometimes they don’t quite behave how you expect.
Sometimes you flick through different layer styles/effects and nothing seems to happen – there is a couple of reasons for this.
Firstly, check the blending options for your layer style/effect – having a light yellow outer glow set on screen blending mode (default options) is not going to show up on a white background! Experiment with different blending options to change this.
Next, check the colours of your layer effect and the colours in the layers below – for the same reasons above! Often just experimenting with different colours in your layer styles/effects and different blending options will allow these effects to be visible.
Oh – and one final point… it goes without saying that the final thing to check your layer AND layer style/effect is opacity… but that’s the first thing you checked, right?!
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Written by Jonny Allbut - freelance graphic designer
Last modified: 22 April, 2009 (14:42) | First published: 16 March, 2009
Filed under Photoshop Troubleshooting 16 Comments »
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Comment by troi
April 20, 2009 @ 9:16 am
helloo. On my photoshop my layer style isn’t working. like, it wont let me go on there at all. It isn’t heighlited. Why wont it let me go on it? What do i need to ajus the settings to or something?
Comment by Photoshop Ninja
April 20, 2009 @ 1:18 pm
Troi – sounds like you are trying to apply a layer effect to a flattened image – make sure it is a layer.
Double click on ‘background’ in the layers palette to turn it into a layer, you should then be able to apply a layer effect/style.
Comment by Tom Quinlan
July 21, 2009 @ 8:04 pm
I just ran into this scenario. I applied the Inner Shadow and Stroke styles to a layer and nothing was showing up. Blend mode for the layer was Normal. It turned out that the object on the layer was larger than the Canvas so neither Style had any room to be visible. There was an Inner Shadow and there was a Stroke but it was way off in no-canvas land.
Comment by Photoshop Ninja
August 2, 2009 @ 1:03 pm
Ahhh – yes, you would also need to watch out for ‘no-canvas land’ if your layer style was not showing, quite right Tom!
Comment by Greg
December 13, 2009 @ 7:03 pm
Every time I flatten an image and save it, the resulting images becomes corrupted… Does anyone know why this is happening?
I thought it could be my computer, so I loaded my other laptop with Photoshop 7 and it is happening on that computer as well.
Please help,
Greg
Comment by Rafael Costa
December 31, 2009 @ 5:13 pm
Completely erratic photoshop behavior from my side here.
I have various layers with effects. They worked all fine once in the past. Now none of them work anymore. The little eyes on the layer window are grayed out (nothing change by clicking that).
Trying to apply the effect in a new layer, you get the layer effect window. The preview box is checked but If I uncheck it a drop shadow appears!!! If I change the parameters nothing changes. If i go to a different effect and try the same thing (inner glow for example) that same drop shadow keeps happening…
Everything works fine if I start a new file!
Comment by Rafael Costa
December 31, 2009 @ 5:27 pm
OK! Found a way to fix that by duplicating the file… Saved the time it would take to recreate the file.
Rafael
Comment by Photoshop Ninja
January 15, 2010 @ 3:52 pm
Ohh, that’s bad Greg – I’d have thought it ma be hardware/hard-drive trouble, but if it’s happening on two computers I’m not sure. Best thing would be to check out the Adobe forums on that one fella and good luck.
Comment by Photoshop Ninja
January 15, 2010 @ 3:54 pm
Sounds like it might be worth trashing your preferences – that often fixes little quirks. Check out the article http://photoshopninja.com/photoshop-troubleshooting/deleting-photoshop-preference-files/
Comment by Anna
March 24, 2010 @ 10:03 pm
I’ve been working with Photoshop, taking advantage of using the layers and layer styles, but there is something that bewilders me. Here’s an example: I’ll create a heading of text and add a layer style, putting a drop shadow at the bottom, 90 degrees. Then, on a new layer, I’ll create a box and add layer styles to that. I’ll put a drop shadow on that as well, but I’ll put it at a negative 60 degree angle. So one shadow should be at the bottom of the text, and another shadow should be at the upper left of the box. However, when I alter the shadow for this box to make it negative 60, the shadow on the text also changes to negative 60. I can’t find a way to make the drop shadows independant of each other. Is this not possible with layer styles? I’m using Adobe Photoshop CS3.
Thanks for any help you can give!
Comment by Anna
March 25, 2010 @ 12:59 am
Hi again!
I figured out what the problem was with all of my layer styles sharing the same drop shadow settings. There’s a check box next to the degree dial for the drop shadows that says “Use Global Settings”.
When it is checked, every layer style in my documents share that setting. When I uncheck it, I can freely change the shadow angle without affecting the other layer styles’ shadows.
Comment by Photoshop Ninja
March 25, 2010 @ 3:01 pm
You got it before I had a chance to respond Anna – that’s exactly it!
Comment by bbkgh
April 26, 2010 @ 12:36 am
OK, so I got the ellipse on and everything but when I try to apply the gradiance, it doesn’t show up, the background just stays black.
Comment by Photoshop Ninja
April 30, 2010 @ 2:50 pm
Check blending options.
Comment by Nic
May 27, 2010 @ 2:38 pm
If the eyes are greyed out, right click them and click “Show all effects”.
Comment by Photoshop Ninja
June 3, 2010 @ 1:39 am
Yup Nick – that can also catch people out!