Richard Polhill wrote:
Paul Rubin wrote:

"Wayne J. Cosshall" writes:

I love adjustment layers too.
It is not only hobbyists who go back and revisit. Also the fine art
photographers (who may be professional) often revisit old images as
their 'vision' changes.



Could someone explain what adjustment layers are? If you want to edit
non destructively, why not just make a copy of the original file
before starting to edit?


It allows you to make successive adjustments and then go back and change
underlying adjustments without having to redo later ones.

Eg. apply colour filters and then desaturate. You can change the hue and
density of the colour filter and see the effects on the monochrome image.

Obviously, you don't destroy the original when you "Save as" and put the
edited file somewhere else. I typically open my file, manipulate it as
desired, then Save as a TIF so that I don't lose anything by compressing
it more, and so that the original remains untouched. You aren't actually
operating on your original file when you edit; you are just using the
copy of it that you imported into Photoshop. No destoying is going on,
unless you just hit "Save" and it replaces your camera original.

Gary Eickmeier