Davet
Loc: Fort Myers, Florida
Ok, this is an easy question for you experts, however for me the novice I need a little help. In the layers drop down. There are three subtitles. Merge Layers, Merge Visible and Flatten Image. If I have layers, lets just say 4 or 5 layers what do these mean?
Dave
Merge Down: Merge selected layer with the one below it.
Merge Visible: Merge all visible layers, leaving hidden layers alone
Flatten Image: Merge all visible layers into background layer, discarding hidden layers.
JCam
Loc: MD Eastern Shore
Davet,
Don't forget that flattening is irreversible; and you can print the photo with all the layers directly from photoshop and save it as a .PSD, and reopen it later, but if you need a .jpg, make sure you have saved the original before Merging or Flattening. The best practice is to make a duplicate as the first step in editing and work on the copy not the original.
1st of all IMO, you don't ever want to flatten an image unless you are sure you'll NEVER need or want to change anything. If you must, save a copy and flatten it, if your are going to export to a JPG, it will flatten the JPG's, they don't support layers. But keeping a copy of original layers (PSD file (or Tiff)) is vital if you ever should want to re-edit.
There is another one, a short cut to merge all layers (without flattening)and creating a layer containing all editing in all the existing layers. Be sure the upper most layer is active, then Hold down Control+Alt+Shift+E...it will create a new top layer of all below layers and edits and now you can start a new run of edits. Also good to do after your done with edits and use this layer for final sharpening etc. etc.
Davet
Loc: Fort Myers, Florida
What would that be on a MAC?
Davet wrote:
What would that be on a MAC?
Command instead of Control. Opt instead of Alt...+Shift E, I believe.
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