How To

How to Add an Image to a Layer in Adobe Photoshop In 3 Steps

May 27, 2021
Updated: July 2, 2025 at 4:05 AM

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How to Add an Image to a Layer in Adobe Photoshop In 3 Steps

Adobe Photoshop has made photo and image editing a much simpler process on your Windows or Mac computer. With all the features you could possibly hope for in an image editing program, adding new images is just a simple process.

Photoshop image editing works in layers that allow you to edit and make adjustments to each layer individually. You can read our useful guide for tips and tricks on using layers. Let’s look at how you can add an image or multiple images to a layer in Adobe Photoshop.

Drag and Drop Image
Run the program from your computer by clicking on the icon on your desktop, in your app menu, or your dock. Open the folder on your computer that contains the image you want to add to your project. Drag-and-drop the image from the destination folder to your Photoshop project.
Make Adjustments
Now you can scale, move and adjust the image to the way you want it to appear and once you are happy, press ‘Enter.’ By doing this, the image will be added to its own new layer. This will allow you to make any additional adjustments without affecting other layers until you are ready.
Make Further Adjustments or Merge Images
Now you can decide to leave the layers separate, which is good if you will still be editing the images. Or you can choose to merge them if you are happy with how they look. Merging your layers is useful when you start adding multiple images and the number of layers in your project becomes a lot.

Add Images and Layer for More Effect

With Adobe Photoshop, you can easily add other photos or images to layers in your existing projects. This feature makes it possible to create truly unique and inspiring projects with this fully loaded image editing program.