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Layers in wrong order?


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photoestaban

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Hi to All

I am fairly new to Photoshop and still learning my way round
my problem i'm having is with a fairly old photo that i'm trying to touch up
1st : I converted it to black and white as it looked better
2nd : I used the Levels adjustment layer to tweak it
3rd : I then used a Curves adjustment layer, more tweaking
4th : I then did the touching up using Clone Stamp tool and Spot healing brush
Now when I go back to Levels or Curves layer to adjust it a bit more, it shows up patches where I'd
done the touching up and they really stand out, the only way I could get round it was to Flatten the image
and basically start again.
I know thats not how it should work, what am i doing wrong, am i doing it all in the wrong order?
are the layers in the wrong order.

thanks for your help

steve
 
photoestaban said:
...Now when I go back to Levels or Curves layer to adjust it a bit more, it shows up patches where I'd
done the touching up and they really stand out, the only way I could get round it was to Flatten the image
and basically start again...
Click to expand...
Instead of doing that just continue to add layer adjustments to the top of the stack...you are not limited to just one of each adjustment type.

The only time you wouldn't need to so this is if you have nothing else above the adjustment layer you are changing.

Regards.
MrToM.
 
No worries.

You could also use the 'Stamp Visible' option, CTRL + ALT + SHIFT + E which is similar to 'Flatten' but keeps all your layers, you can then continue to add adjustment layers to the 'flattened' image but still have all your layers that created it underneath.

This is not always desirable as it does mean you have to remember that nothing under that layer is having any effect on the final result but it can be a useful way to keep editing non-destructively.

Regards.
MrToM.
 
photoestaban said:
Now when I go back to Levels or Curves layer to adjust it a bit more, it shows up patches where I'd
done the touching up and they really stand out,
Click to expand...
This happens because the Clone Stamp and Spot Healing Tools sample the available information of all layers below the repair layer at the time of their use. If you change any aspect of those layers below the repair layer, the cloned information will now be different.

As MrToM suggested, just add a new adjustment layer to the top of the layer stack. Any changes made will now affect all layers below it including the repair layer.


photoestaban said:
the only way I could get round it was to Flatten the image
and basically start again.
Click to expand...
I actually do this often but I just use a "Merge a copy of all visible layers into target layer" which is > select the uppermost layer, hit shift + Opt/Alt + Cmd/Cntrl + E. This creates a new merged layer of all the underlying layers without sacrificing them.
 
Thank you

Out of interest how would you or MrTom or any Pro go about this
ie what would your workflow be, getting the photo looking right first
or cleaning up any damage first?

Thanks

steve
 
I try my best to get the image adjusted before I begin any Clone work but it's not always possible, that's why I said I use the stamp visible option quite often. But I suppose you could do it just the opposite.

Have to run to work for now, will check on this thread later! Cheers.
 
For me I usually clean it up first, going on the idea that it doesn't make sense to adjust something that you don't want or is wrong.

Using the original image to 'correct' any errors, regardless of what it looks like, I think is better than using an adjusted image.....if it needs adjusting again then the corrections will have to be done again for the new adjustments.

There may be times though when the exact opposite is required or its just not practical to do it this way.....depends on the image.

Regards.
MrToM.
 
Hi Photoestaban

Another approach to consider is to turn the image into a Smart Object and then use the Camera Raw Filter.

From within the Camera Raw Filter, you can do many of the adjustments and repairs to the image. The advantage of this approach is that with this filter, if you go back and change the toning, the repair steps are redone for you automatically and most of the time look just fine.

This does not work for all repairs that need to be done on an image yet works for me in the majority of images.

Note that the Camera raw filter is basically the same as Adobe Camera Raw interface. When making it a Smart Object, you can reopen the Smart Object any time to tweak things more if necessasry from where you left off.

Thought it was worth considering

John Wheeler
 
Thank you John thats certainly worth considering,

I will try it on the next image

and thanks to all you guys for your knowledgeable input, much appreciated

kind regards

steve
 
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