Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
Non-Destructive Editing: an Overview of Best Practices
and New Features in CS4
The notion of “non-destructive editing” has received a tremendous amount of
buzz in the last couple of years, but it has actually existed in Photoshop since
version 3.0 in the form of layers! Today, we think of non-destructive editing
as the system of settings that accompany a raw i le, but that is just the latest
example.
For a digital photographer, non-destructive editing in Photoshop means
adjustment layers. Adjustment layers are virtual “sheets” placed over an image
background that contain the entire content of an image adjustment. Because
they keep the ef ects of the adjustment from being applied directly to the
pixels in an image, they can be adjusted ini nitely and without compromising
the quality of the original. Specii c to the needs of digital photographers,
adjustment layers are truly the digital photographer's modern darkroom.
In addition to preserving the image's original detail, all layers also have the
benei t of a myriad of blend modes.
Blend modes are an extremely powerful set of controls which dictate how
layers “speak” to each other and to the image with which they interact. This
chapter will illustrate some great techniques utilizing adjustment layers and
blend modes in the step-by-step tutorials.
Another unique attribute of Photoshop is its arsenal of selective editing tools.
Selections, whether made by tools, masks, channels or subsets of layers,
govern which portion of a given area Photoshop focuses its powers. When the
power and l exibility of layers and selections meet, it becomes very obvious
why Photoshop is the world standard for image adjustments.
Remember that only a few i le formats preserve Photoshop's adjustment layer
capabilities. They are:
- Photoshop (.PSD and .PSB)
- PDF (.PDF or PDP)
- TIFF
- DICOM
Non-destructive editing has made incredible progress in Photoshop.
Manipulations now look fresh and new because of how they are able to
non-destructively “speak” to the original image through blending, opacity
and masking. There are many features important to the non-destructive
workl ow process in Photoshop. First, Smart Objects, introduced in CS2, are
references linking a i le with its original. As an example, were you to take a
high resolution image and scale it down or crop it, the image would only be as
good as its i nal incarnation; with the use of Smart Objects, the image, when
later up-scaled, references its original, pristine state and thus continues to
assure maximum i delity. CS3 brought us Smart Filters, which are essentially
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