Preliminary Editing

Now we come to the point in this tutorial where the workflow of Photoshop editing and manipulation begins to take place. There are two main stages in this workflow: Camera Raw and Photoshop.

Editing Stage 1: Camera Raw

Before you get into Photoshop, make sure you have done everything possible in Camera Raw to give yourself a good foundation. Remember, everything you do in Camera Raw is nondestructive, so you want to do as much as possible before you move on. You want to make your image look as gorgeous as you can in regard to color balance, dynamic range, cropping and leveling, lack of fringing and noise, and controlling contrast within specific ranges of Brightness with the new Curves tab.

If you don't mind spending the money and taking the time to work outside of Photoshop, you might want to do even more on your RAW files with a third-party application such as Phase One Capture One or Pixmantec Raw Shooter Premium.

Editing Stage 2: Photoshop CS2

As amazing as Camera Raw is, it just doesn't do everything you might want to do. Rather than list all the things it doesn't do, I will just list the things you will most likely want to do in the most constructive and efficient order:

Adjustment Layers:

Use to do overall image corrections on all the layers beneath that layer.

Masked Adjustment Layers:

Use when you want an adjustment to apply only to a preselected portion of the image.

Clipping Layers:

Use for an Adjustment Layer that affects only one layer below or selected layers. Masked layers can be clipped, too.

Merged Copy Layers:

Use for applying destructive processes, such as filters (including knockouts, filters, and destructive adjustments) and certain types of retouching. Destructive adjustments are those that don't work as adjustment layers and, therefore, make significant changes to the image when applied.

Transparent Layers

Use for retouching and compositing.

Duplicate the image when you must convert from 16-bit to 8-bit mode

That way, you can always go back to make changes in the 16-bit mode. Also, add "8b" to the end of the filename. You should assume that all the other images were output from Camera Raw to 16-bit mode, where you'd have the most adjustment latitude.

By following the steps above in order, you will easily locate the point where you made a revision to your image. Moreover, you are working from the place where the adjustment affects more of the overall image to the place where it affects less at least until you get past the point of using Adjustment Layers. You are basically turning off layers from the top down. When you get to the point where your image is free of any content or characteristics you don't want it to have, stop and start building new layers.

Now here is the really good part. You can keep the old layers, group them into a set or sets, and then turn off the set. Then, if you want to show yourself or an art director the difference between one version of the image and others, you just turn the layer sets on and off. This allows you to display whole ranges of interpretations of an image without ever having to change images.