Are layer styles for created images only?

C
Posted By
connelsey
Jan 21, 2008
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354
Replies
5
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Closed
Am I right in assuming that these layer styles in photoshop, are intended for the use with created images as apposed to digital photographs?
Thanks connelsey

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S
Scubabix
Jan 21, 2008
"connelsey" wrote in message
Am I right in assuming that these layer styles in photoshop, are intended for the use with created images as apposed to digital photographs?
Thanks connelsey

Not at all, in fact, anything you do to a photograph should be on a duplicate layer. It’s always a good practice not to change your original image layer. That way if you make a mistake, or go to far in you changes, you just throw them away and start with your original layer. Rob
M
mike
Jan 21, 2008
Scubabix wrote:
"connelsey" wrote in message
Am I right in assuming that these layer styles in photoshop, are intended for the use with created images as apposed to digital photographs?
Thanks connelsey

Not at all, in fact, anything you do to a photograph should be on a duplicate layer. It’s always a good practice not to change your original image layer. That way if you make a mistake, or go to far in you changes, you just throw them away and start with your original layer. Rob
Can’t you achieve the same result by just working on a copy of the original picture?
S
spydersweb34
Jan 22, 2008
"anything you do to a photograph should be on a duplicate layer. It’s always a good practice not to change your original
image layer"

I see this "PhotoShop Proverb" all the time. For practical reasons it is truly useful to do this, but is not the only good solution to getting back your original when you have gone too far. I personally find that this practice is not only unnecessary but also a bit of a timewaster (also a RAM hog). In fact there is actually another default safety copy of the original sitting right there at your doorstep, always accessible. The automatic failsafe is the first step in the History palette. This snapshot of original file history state exists regardless of whatever image changes you make – even beyond the undo limit, and unless you deliberately delete this step it will always be there. You will ALWAYS have a copy of your original, and if you’ve gone too far you can grab a copy of this history state.

When you press Ctrl-Z (or undo) you are actually stepping back through the history states of your image. By default you have 20 undo’s, but you can set this amount higher or lower. On the menu under Edit > Preferences > General, notice a little box labeled "History States". Here is where you can manually change the number of states for undoing. I don’t know the practical limit for number of undo’s. I have found that thirty is a better number for me as each mouseclick (or brush, menu change, etc) records to the history palette as an image change. I guess if you have gobs o’ ram you can set it upwards of 100.

If you are really into image security, here’s a really cool but little known PhotoShop feature, perhaps because it’s buried so deeply. You can set PhotoShop to automatically record a history state (layers and all) for each of your file saves. This feature MUST be invoked intentionally, but it’s buried sort of deep. To access it, open the history palette. At the top right there is a small round button with a triangular icon. Pressing it causes a flyout menu to appear. At the bottom of this menu it says "History States". Click this and a menu pops up. The second choice on this menu is "automatically create new snapshot when saving". This is disabled by default, but if you choose to enable it, the history palette will then record a time-stamped snapshot for each of your file saves. This could theoretically save your butt if you have goofed and you don’t wish to go back to the beginning, assuming you save early and often. Also this would provide a temporary backup method if you need to go back to a previous save state your file.

The History Palette is powerful yet complex little beast, with lots of features. My personal experience with it is that there are also ways in which one could irrevocably goof up an image- so take care to understand its power before using it live.

Thom
TK
Toobi-Won Kenobi
Jan 22, 2008
"spydersweb34" wrote in message
"anything you do to a photograph should be on a duplicate layer. It’s always a good practice not to change your original
image layer"

I see this "PhotoShop Proverb" all the time. For practical reasons it is truly useful to do this, but is not the only good solution to getting back your original when you have gone too far. I personally find that this practice is not only unnecessary but also a bit of a timewaster (also a RAM hog). In fact there is actually another default safety copy of the original sitting right there at your doorstep, always accessible. The automatic failsafe is the first step in the History palette. This snapshot of original file history state exists regardless of whatever image changes you make – even beyond the undo limit, and unless you deliberately delete this step it will always be there. You will ALWAYS have a copy of your original, and if you’ve gone too far you can grab a copy of this history state.
When you press Ctrl-Z (or undo) you are actually stepping back through the history states of your image. By default you have 20 undo’s, but you can set this amount higher or lower. On the menu under Edit > Preferences > General, notice a little box labeled "History States". Here is where you can manually change the number of states for undoing. I don’t know the practical limit for number of undo’s. I have found that thirty is a better number for me as each mouseclick (or brush, menu change, etc) records to the history palette as an image change. I guess if you have gobs o’ ram you can set it upwards of 100.

If you are really into image security, here’s a really cool but little known PhotoShop feature, perhaps because it’s buried so deeply. You can set PhotoShop to automatically record a history state (layers and all) for each of your file saves. This feature MUST be invoked intentionally, but it’s buried sort of deep. To access it, open the history palette. At the top right there is a small round button with a triangular icon. Pressing it causes a flyout menu to appear. At the bottom of this menu it says "History States". Click this and a menu pops up. The second choice on this menu is "automatically create new snapshot when saving". This is disabled by default, but if you choose to enable it, the history palette will then record a time-stamped snapshot for each of your file saves. This could theoretically save your butt if you have goofed and you don’t wish to go back to the beginning, assuming you save early and often. Also this would provide a temporary backup method if you need to go back to a previous save state your file.

The History Palette is powerful yet complex little beast, with lots of features. My personal experience with it is that there are also ways in which one could irrevocably goof up an image- so take care to understand its power before using it live.

Thom
The best method is just to make all your image files read only. That way you cannot save over them.

TMH
S
Scubabix
Jan 23, 2008
The best method is just to make all your image files read only. That way you cannot save over them.

TMH

Amen

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