bainbru1 wrote:

 

"... I am not sure why the layer style dialog is different when you double click the layer and when you use the fx or drop down menu options."

Unless you indicate which particular effect is to be manipulated, Photoshop defaults to opening the Layer Style dialogue at the Blending Options section.

Double-clicking at the right of a layer name (and on the thumbnail of pixel layers) will open the Layer Style dialogue with Blending Options visible.

Double-clicking the word "Effects" under a layer name will open the Layer Style dialogue at Blending Options.

Double-clicking a specific effect name under the word "Effects" opens the Layer Style dialogue at that particular effect's options.

You've already been given the answer in both posts 3 and 4.

Look very closely at your screenshots.  Notice what's highlighted in blue over on the left of the Layer Style dialog.

The entire contents of the dialog changes depending on what you select over on the left.

This catches a lot of folks off guard until they realize that the dialog is multi-functional.

-Noel

bainbru1 wrote:

 

Noel - the issue I encountered was that when I double clicked on the active layer and was presented with the default layer style dialog that did not show the color picker option and then selected drop shadow, I did not see the color picker to the right of the blending options.

As others have pointed out, unless there is some information missing in your problem description, you are observing normal and expected behavior.  To clarify with screenshots what Noel and others have said above:

When you invoke layer style dialog box by double clicking on the active layer, by default it shows the controls for Blending Options. See the words Blending Options highlighted in blue on the left and the headline Blending Options in the main pane of the dialog box!

Merely checking the box for drop shadow does NOT make the drop shadow controls appear.  Blending Options is still selected (highlighted in blue) and the controls in the main pane still have the headline Blending Options!!

To display the controls for Drop Shadow you need to click on the words Drop Shadow.  Then the layer style Drop Shadow has the focus and the Drop Shadow controls are displayed.  You can see this because the words Drop Shadow are now highlighted in blue and the headline over the controls in the main pane says Drop Shadow:

When you select the FX button at the bottom of the Layers Panel, you select the Layer Style you want at the same time, so the Layer Style you chose already has the focus when the dialog box appears, and the relevent controls are automatically displayed.