World Ocean Depth A Series Layer Description

This description applies to all Photoshop map files in the World Ocean Depth A map series. It is intended to give you an overview over the file structure and lets you assess the customization options.
(Other series will have different layer structures, so make sure you are looking at the correct pages for the map series you are interested in.)

Here is a screenshot of the layers panel in Adobe Photoshop CS4:

There are two main groups: Land and Ocean.

Land group:

The land group has a layer mask which ensures that adjustments to subsequent layers only affect the land areas. This can be useful if you want to apply additional adjustment layers further down.

Water Emboss layer:

This is a fill layer with a layer mask. The layer mask contains the inland water area. This layer gives a recessed effect to the inland water area. To achieve this, an emboss effect has been applied, and the fill of the layer (in the field at the top of the layer panel under opacity) is set to 0%. The result is that only the emboss effect is applied, ignoring the fill color.

Land Emboss layer:

This is a fill layer with a layer mask. The layer mask contains the land area. This layer gives an embossed effect to the land area. To achieve this, an emboss effect has been applied, and the fill of the layer (in the field at the top of the layer panel under opacity) is set to 0%. The result is that only the emboss effect is applied, ignoring the fill color.

Water layer:

The water layer is a fill layer which specifies the color for inland water (including rivers and lakes). The layer has a layer mask covering all inland water areas. An emboss effect makes the water slightly recessed.

Land relief layer:

The land relief layer contains the shaded relief of all land areas. The coloration shows natural vegetation colors, derived from NASA satellite images through a proprietary coloration process.

Ocean group:

The ocean group contains the ocean relief.

Ocean layer:

The ocean layer contains a depiction of the ocean depth, with darker colors for deeper areas and lighter colors for shallow areas.