how to apply

[hp2]

I am sure this question will be helpful across in other ways for me as I become familiar with the product. I wanted to turn a layer into B&W then blend and use a mask to selectively apply. I do want to acknowledge that I did find a way to do it since the forum does ask us to do that. But, a question remains. When I went under image to decrease color pallete to 2 color, that did not apply to one layer, but absorbed all the layers I had open. a.) can that be applied to one layer selectively? b. the method I used to create the B&W image was simply to desaturate using HSL adjustment layer. Is there a better way that offers greater control?

Is there a manual way to select one layer and apply any effect locally (like in Photoshop elements I can use CTL A) and then apply any change to that just layer.

Thanks. I am sure I will have many questions going forward because I have many questions. Looks like PSP has a lot of capabilities to boost creativity and it will take a lot of experimentation. It took me 2 years to become somewhat proficient with PSE. Hopefully, the learning curve here will not be so long.

hp2

[LeviFiction]

You can't force all effects to apply to a single layer. In PSP an effect is either strictly image or layer. Or has a built in option to limit it to a layer. Such as Free Rotate and Resize, these are image commands but they have a "limit to layer" option you can select.

Most commands found under "image" are full image commands. So things like decreasing colors happen to the whole image. That's not always the case, but it's close. If you want to decrease the colors of a layer you must first copy the layer, then paste as a new image, decrease the colors on that new image, then copy it back into a new layer. So more effort, but you can at least get the same effect as just performing the effect on a single layer directly.

For B&W you can use the B&W Film photo effect. Effects -> Photo Effects -> B & W film - this lets you identify which color you want to emphasize in the image and it does work on individual layers.

[hp2]

Thank you.

Further. the application I was attempting was under the menu heading image which I assume means it applies to the image, not a layer. So, my question, as is often the case with a newbie to any software, was swamped in the murky depths of novice ignorance.
thanks again.
I am posting another question right now as I post this edited reply.