Photoshop is Destructive?

[mjjgm]

A friend of mine who knows a lot about imaging told me this:

"Photoshop works destructively since pixels are manipulated in real time. If you had to render out what you were doing like in After Effects, then it's not destructive."

What do you guys think about this statement?

I was always under the impression PSD files were non-destructive and I was essentially 'rendering out' into JPG (cuz it would definitely be destructive to save new JPGs continuously).

But if the above statement is true, should I try to save less frequently to avoid degrading the images?

[Char3105]

Originally Posted by mjjgm

A friend of mine who knows a lot about imaging told me this:

"Photoshop works destructively since pixels are manipulated in real time. If you had to render out what you were doing like in After Effects, then it's not destructive."

What do you guys think about this statement?

I was always under the impression PSD files were non-destructive and I was essentially 'rendering out' into JPG (cuz it would definitely be destructive to save new JPGs continuously).

But if the above statement is true, should I try to save less frequently to avoid degrading the images?

Your friend is quite right... any work on your image in Photoshop is destructive to the pixels and the more you save the more you damage the original image. Some file formats are a tiny bit less effected by this.. such as Tiff...but for that you increase the size and limit your storing power. I found that shooting in Raw and doing most of my processing in the Photoshops Raw converter and then just doing the fine tuning in jpg is much much less damaging to the images. xx

[wulf]

Is that right? Is Photoshop's .psd a lossy format? I was under the impression that it wasn't so, as long as you still have the original image in the file (ie. you haven't flattened and fixed all the adjustment layers), you haven't lost anything.

Wulf

[Char3105]

Originally Posted by wulf

Is that right? Is Photoshop's .psd a lossy format? I was under the impression that it wasn't so, as long as you still have the original image in the file (ie. you haven't flattened and fixed all the adjustment layers), you haven't lost anything.

Wulf

Ohh ok.. sorry .. that was my mistake now.. I was thinking of saving and resaving as a jpg format.. not as .psd. No you are right.. psd formats are lossless till you save as jpg. xx

[mjjgm]

Originally Posted by Char3105

Ohh ok.. sorry .. that was my mistake now.. I was thinking of saving and resaving as a jpg format.. not as .psd. No you are right.. psd formats are lossless till you save as jpg. xx

Yes, that's what I thought too!! I always felt like it wasn't destructive unless I flatten the image or if I do something like clone/dodge/burn to the background layer.

I tried to argue that with my friend but he still insisted that PSD was lossy in itself and said "Photoshop works destructively since pixels are manipulated in real time." That's why I posted on here...

What's the recant to that? That pixels are not actually manipulated in "real time" in Photoshop?

[wulf]

You are constantly creating new views of the image but, until you commit those changes by an action like flattening, the original image embedded in the PSD file remains unchanged.

With the Gimp, my tool of choice, you don't have the same options for adjustment layers but, as long as you keep a layer with the unchanged original image and work on copied layers, the picture is perfectly preserved however many times you save the XCF file.

Wulf

[jdepould]

Originally Posted by wulf

Is that right? Is Photoshop's .psd a lossy format? I was under the impression that it wasn't so, as long as you still have the original image in the file (ie. you haven't flattened and fixed all the adjustment layers), you haven't lost anything.

Wulf

PSD is lossless, but I don't think that's what the OP was getting at. Destructive editing and lossy compression are unrelated.

[RexK_Cozumel]

Photoshop can be used destructively if you chose to retouch that way however if you use photoshop "correctly" then it is non destructive since you are creating multiple layers where the adjustments are made leaving the original image untouched.

[vsa]

Originally Posted by mjjgm

"Photoshop works destructively since pixels are manipulated in real time. If you had to render out what you were doing like in After Effects, then it's not destructive."

Sounds like your friend doesn't know what s/he's talking about. Listen to RexK_Cozumel. It's all in the layers.

Save as often as you want. Preferably more often than not. Maybe a new version every once in a while in case something goes horribly wrong or if you just want to have different versions. I know I've had my fair share of not saving and then Photoshop crashes...... "Fuuuuuuuu... *rips hair off head*" and so on.

[RexK_Cozumel]

Originally Posted by vsa

Sounds like your friend doesn't know what s/he's talking about. Listen to RexK_Cozumel. It's all in the layers.

Save as often as you want. Preferably more often than not. Maybe a new version every once in a while in case something goes horribly wrong or if you just want to have different versions. I know I've had my fair share of not saving and then Photoshop crashes...... "Fuuuuuuuu... *rips hair off head*" and so on.

LOL I have had that happen before. But i make it a point to save early and save often. Anyways I was on a 8 hour edit, file size was close to 1tb, antivirus scan kicks on, photoshop crashes. FUUUUUUUUUUDGE. The only good thing was that I saved it about 15 minutes earlier so only lost a little bit of work.