10 Photoshop Techniques You Can't Work Without:

 

6. Styles with 0% Fill:

Summary: When developing your own layer styles, the base color with which you fill the layer can often interfere. Setting a layer's Fill to 0% hands off all authority over the final effect to the layer style, which is a good thing because the color with which you filled that layer becomes irrelavent.

 

 

 

Shown: Here we have a layer containing an image of a black circle.

 

 

Step 1: Apply a 3px red stroke style and make sure the "Fill" is at 100%.

 

 

Step 2: Set the "Fill" down to 50% by dragging the Fill slider arrow to the left. Notice the base color (black) is half-way negated.

 

 

Step 3: Set the "Fill" down to 0% by dragging the Fill slider arrow all the way left. Notice the base color (black) is completely negated.

 

 

Shown: Even though the base color appears to be visible, the black cirlce here is actually defined in the style's "Color Overlay". Notice that Fill is still at 0%. Factoring out the base color offers greater flexibility when creating new effects.

Caution! Don't confuse a layer's Fill with its Opacity. Opacity affects the base color AND the style effect while Fill only affects the base color.

Tip: Transparent or translucent effects can be created with low Fill values.