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Try Not To Correct More Than Once

 

When correcting images in Curves, Levels, etc., it’s best to try to do all your corrections at one time rather than changing each setting individually (by that I mean, don’t set a highlight in Curves, then close and reopen it to set a shadow). The reason is, each time you apply a tonal correction, it puts some strain on the quality of the image. So to keep your image from having unnecessary data loss, when you open Curves or Levels, make your shadow, highlight, and midtone adjustments, and then click OK to apply all three adjustments at once.

2 Comments

  1. Ken Barnett said on — July 9, 2008 @ 3:54 pm

    Why not use a curves adjustment layer so you don’t run into this issue in the first place? The curves adjustment layer does no damage to the image so you can adjust as whim then save out your final adjustment. I will typically create a curves adjustment layer, then merge my new image on a new layer and continue working. If I need to make further curve adjustments I’ll just go back to my non adjusted layer and go from there…

  2. blah said on — July 10, 2008 @ 12:25 am

    Adjustment curves all the way. They’ve been around since CS2

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Create A Composite Layer

If you have a multilayer composition and you
want to apply an effect to all the layers at once, don’t flatten the layers–use a composite layer instead. Hide the layers you want excluded, and press Shift-Command-Option-E (PC: Shift-Ctrl-Alt-E). A new layer will be created at the top containing a merged copy of all the visible layers.

Another option is to create a new layer at the top of the stack and make it active. Command-click (PC: Ctrl-click) each layer you want to include to make those layers active, as well. Press Option-Command-E (PC: Alt-Ctrl-E).
by Colin Smith

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