Layers are indispensible parts of the digital world. I am beginning to do image adjustments that way, with "adjustment layers" to prevent degrading of the image I am working. Still, as Cindy said, the most basic rule is "work with a copy and not the original". Both PSP abd Photoshop and other progs allow a fairly easy >edit> copy> paste as new image(psp) or >image> duplicate (photoshop). I suggest opening layers pallate and playing around a bit to see what it does. Open a copy of the bg layer to have something to work with or promote the bg to a layer. That might not make sense but it will once you do it. Best wishes! I know little of this compared to Cindy and others here but this note might help. Tons of good tuts are out there to find in a simple search. TomDart.