Gimp- 3rd Bite- Duplicate Layers

One thing you will see repeated through the various Youtube Gimp tutorials is that almost everyone makes a duplicate copy of the image they are working on.  This way the changes you are making are to the copy and not the original. So how do I make a duplicate copy? The following steps will help you accomplish that

1.  Click on the image you had loaded previously. If you forgot how to go back to Gimp- 2nd bite. Remember the 3 boxes I had mentioned in the 1st post in this series. Box number 2 was your layer box. Some of you have 2 boxes showing on the application and some may have 3. To open up the layer box if you only have 2 showing, simply press "ctrl L" on your keyboard. You should see the layer box, which will be to the right and look something like this. (note you can drag and move all the boxes freely on the screen) sometimes I drag them to the far edge when I'm working in the main panel.  Anyway your Layer box should look like this.

At the bottom of the layer window you will see a toolbar. Click on what looks like a double photo(next to what looks like a tulip) to make a copy of your image. The new image will appear as a background copy. You can rename it, but most of the time I don't, because I'm only working on a few layers.  This is what the layers window looks like when you have copied it successfully. 

Get into the habit of duplicating all your images when editing. If you don't see your the layer box, don't worry. Simply toggle the ctrl L key to view. Opening and closing the layer box should become a could habit to learn. This concludes our 3rd bite- Duplicate layers * you can also create a duplicate layer from the  main panel tab under layers.