Ok something that I can't seem to get about layers

[Biwa]

I see people with these psd files with many layers . I consider myself still
a noob with CS3 even though I have used it for about 8 months there is so much more to learn.
Heres whats stumping me .

Is there a good "best practices with layers" guide somewhere?

Yes I know what layers do and how to think of them as acetate on top of each other. That makes sense. I know how to mask .
What I get into trouble with is when I do a selection when to jump it to its own layer vs not , when to work with just a blank layer or on the layer copy itself.
When I make some selections and work on it and then do any color adjustment I find sometimes that the selection underneath does not get affected or that sometimes only the selection is getting affected. I get lost in when to merge down layers and when not to . I would prefer not to merge stuff down in order to see what I have been doing and as I mentioned I see people with massive psd files with tons of layers and groups etc so there must be a way to keep it all a.

So , tips on best practices and do's and don't if anyone has them would be great to read.

I have read tons of books and even watched Lyndas videos but never have seen anything presented on layer management when things get tricky and where to have what be where. haha I hope I make sense to someone.

[Swampy]

Hi Biwa! Welcome to RetouchPro! Explore and Enjoy!

I think every project has it's own layer management requirements so it's hard to say. What I like to do is as layers build up, put all the work into a layer group then do a "stamp merge" and name that merge layer "merge of group 1" then continue working from there grouping the next process layers.

Always start your work on a backup of your Original Background layer. I will duplicate it then do color corrections, cloning etc. and put it all in a group, stamp merge and continue.

[Biwa]

Originally Posted by Swampy

Hi Biwa! Welcome to RetouchPro! Explore and Enjoy!

I think every project has it's own layer management requirements so it's hard to say. What I like to do is as layers build up, put all the work into a layer group then do a "stamp merge" and name that merge layer "merge of group 1" then continue working from there grouping the next process layers.

Always start your work on a backup of your Original Background layer. I will duplicate it then do color corrections, cloning etc. and put it all in a group, stamp merge and continue.

When you do a stamp merge do you lose your layers in that group? I would like to not lose layers if thats possible

[Swampy]

No, you don't loose the layers in the group. You don't have to put them in a group, but it just helps me organize and shortens the layer list.

I use the Keyboard Shortcut SHIFT+OPTION+COMMAND+E for Mac. I think for a PC it is SHIFT+ALT+CONTROL+E

[Biwa]

Originally Posted by Swampy

No, you don't loose the layers in the group. You don't have to put them in a group, but it just helps me organize and shortens the layer list.

I use the Keyboard Shortcut SHIFT+OPTION+COMMAND+E for Mac. I think for a PC it is SHIFT+ALT+CONTROL+E

Will have to try that thanks.

I'm still hoping for a best practices list.
I as mentioned, am still trying to get a handle on PS but what I am talking about would be something like

1. Always make a copy of your image to work on .
2. First make color corrections
3. To work on a selection , jump the selection to a new layer / do not jump to a new layer unless you want to do blah blah blah ( I am making this up , this is what I dont know and want to see someone tell me )
... 11 . At some point make groups of your layers when ( again at what point do you make your groups??? this again I dont know )

18 . Sharpen last before printing .


Again I'm looking for a list of that sort if it exists. Yes I can see that every image will be a case by case situation but there has to be a "best practice" or theory for it all right?

[Swampy]

I pretty much work along these lines

- noise
- Perspective adjustments
- Curves or Levels with adjustment layer
- Color correction
- Clone/heal
- Dodge/burn
- sharpen/blur
- flatten, conversion 16-8bits, adobe rgb to cmyk/srgb, save PSD

[Steve Payne]

I think is just really something you'll learn as you go along. I look back on some of my early early PSD files and they will only have about three layers in total?!?

I used to merge everything down or even worse work on just one layer for everything.
Not that there's anything particularly wrong with that, but it does limit what you can change and alter should you need to come back and work on it some more.

So I think you'll know when you want to change something but also have the option of going back. That's when to utilise layers. It's probably worth learning about smart objects and smart layers and layer masks and such.

To be honest though it will just come with time as you gain more experience.

[DJSoulglo]

There's no set process for this I'm afraid. It really depends on the job.

Keep your original and work from there

Do as much of your adjustments on seperate layers, for full flexability or so someone else can easily pick up your files. Also, label your groups.

We color code them for ease of use. Green for current work, Grey for stuff that should not be on etc.

Check the attachment for how my layer stack looks at the very moment. The image is not actually a pink blob, copyright etc.

[Soul_of_Kilik]

or try making a group, then duplicate the group, then flatten the duplicate group...

[pixelhunter]

About copying/jumping selections to a separate layer.
I'm not a big fan of that, as stacking layers of selections can look weird and "doubled".
Use masks.
I just usually duplicate the whole layer if I need to adjust only selected areas.
But it also depends on the amount of layers already in the project.

[Biwa]

Originally Posted by DJSoulglo

There's no set process for this I'm afraid. It really depends on the job.

Keep your original and work from there

Do as much of your adjustments on seperate layers, for full flexability or so someone else can easily pick up your files. Also, label your groups.

We color code them for ease of use. Green for current work, Grey for stuff that should not be on etc.

Check the attachment for how my layer stack looks at the very moment. The image is not actually a pink blob, copyright etc.

Is there a industry wide color covention for the color codes?
Thats a smart idea and I am going to start doing that myself.

[MiguelCunha]

I Agree with DJSoulglo there is no set processe to do that you will have to do it depending on the job in hands and how you fell better working and keeping your job organize and how much you want to be able to change after the job is done .

[smak]

>>>>>when I do a selection when to jump it to its own layer vs not

If you jump a selection to a new layer, you can work on the portion of the image without having to re-select the area again. You can also make a mistake on that layer and discard it if you want.

[DJSoulglo]

Originally Posted by Biwa

Is there a industry wide color covention for the color codes?
Thats a smart idea and I am going to start doing that myself.

All the people I've worked with (that's a few by now) use different colors, but the one thing that everyone agrees on is that the stuff that shouldn't be on (groups that were merged into single layer for further work) should be marked as grey other than that, whatever tickles your fancy.

Jumping stuff to new layers:

If possible just copy the whole layer and get a mask on there, however sometimes you need to warp/distort/liquify a certain part and that's when I usually jump it to a new layer by itself. But yeah always always always check your edges when you do that.

[Mike]

For a bit more on layers, go here, and after suffering through all the ads, its worthwhile:

http://revision3.com/pixelperfect/hotelroom/

[snook305]

I consider my self pretty handy with photoshop but I have a quicky while we are on the topic.
I have something that bothers me everytime I do a retouch. Once you do that copyer all merged to another layer above the layers there is no return and dropping the opacity on a previuos layer. Sometimes I will use the Nik color efex filter on an image but it is only really possible on a copyall merged layer because there is no way of going back to change something after the fact that you have used that filter.

For example if I want to change the tone a little after using the Nik filter I am out of luck or have to re tone it again which is not a great option either.
Any way of getting around this? I cannot really see a way but I am open for ideas.
Do you just have to use those filters at the end as once you use them there is going back?
Thanks for any help and It might sound a little confusing.
Snook

[pixelhunter]

Originally Posted by smak

>>>>>when I do a selection when to jump it to its own layer vs not

If you jump a selection to a new layer, you can work on the portion of the image without having to re-select the area again. You can also make a mistake on that layer and discard it if you want.

I usually copy the layer and use a mask. But it depends on what I need to do with the selection.

[Chris730]

I'm new to the whole posting thing and I may be doing it wrong but found this thread and have a question along the same line.
When I'm retouching and have multiple layers I will Stamp them down so I can keep working while leaving my original layers in tact. But what is the purpose of this over flattening? other than being able to see your progress. I've tried to go back and alter the original layers and restamp but it ends up getting all out of sequence and getting messy. Anyone have some thoughts for me on this?

[amica999]

Chris, just delete the "stamped" layer and your alterations take effect...

[Chris730]

Thank you.. Would that process hold true if I was retouching a person and I had groups for eyes, skin, and hair and prior to beginning each new step I stamped the image as the new starting point. Then after completing the hair I wanted to go back to the eyes which was the first group. It seems to me that every thing that got stamped would need to be undone and then just continue on from the edit. Hope that makes sense. Thanks again

[amica999]

Dear, yes, every stamp = merging visible layers onto a new one...if you delete all stamped you should be able to modify.

Maybe you want to read about layer comps: http://www.google.de/search?hl=de&ei...+comps&spell=1