Home > Editing Images Without Destroying Them (Non-Destructive Workflow)

One aspect of Photoshop that gives it the edge for graphics professionals is the ability to work on image whilst retaining all the original data, and to do it efficiently. The method of working that ensures that the original data is kept and never lost is labelled ‘non-destructive’ – it doesn’t destroy your image. In this tutorial, we’ll take a look at one way in which we can work non-destructively that means we can always go back to our original.

For this tutorial, it would help if you have experience of the clone tool, but it is not absolutely essential.

The image above is a typical portrait. We are interested in making the wrinkles less obvious. One technique for subtly reducing the visual impact of wrinkles is to use the Clone Tool. First, to demonstrate a destructive work flow, select the image layer – in this case its the background. Next, take the clone tool and after adjusting the opacity of the clone tool to something like 50%, ALT-click (Option-click on Mac) on an area of skin that you would like to use as the source for your cloning. Paint over the wrinkles.

Now, we’ve done a reasonable job of hiding those wrinkles, but we’ve lost the original image. Yes, we can undo, but if we save this file, and open it later, we cannot undo these changes. That’s why we need a non-destructive work flow. Next we see how to do this non-destructively.

The important thing to realise is that there are no hard and fast rules on what tools and operations in Photoshop are destructive versus non-destructive. It is more of an appreciation that some changes you make can be done in a way that means you always have the option of falling back to the original image. In this example, we can make our clone changes onto a separate layer. This means that we can always go back to the original, just by hiding (or even deleting) the additional layer.

We can make the same improvements to the wrinkles in the photo, but with a slightly different approach. With the original image open, add a new blank layer from the layers panel. Next, pick the clone tool, as before, but now we need to ensure that the Sample dropdown is set to All layers. Now, when we paint, the changes are occuring on a new layer – we aren’t destroying original data.

In the image on the left, note the additional layer on which the changes have been made. The image on the right shows only the upper layer where the cloning has occurred. If, at any time, the original image is needed, all the data is there - we haven't destoyed it. Another example of choosing non-destructive workflow over destructive workflow is when two layers are composited together. In the example below, the skyscraper is having a new sky added. The Sky is a layer above the skyscraper. Rather than using the Eraser tool on the sky layer, a layer mask is added.
Layer masks are created by selecting the layer to mask, and clicking the layer mask icon, highlighted below:

The layer mask is shown as an additional thumbnail in the layer. Either the original image can be selectd for painting, or the mask selected for painting, by clicking on the thumbnail image in the layers panel. Once the mask is selected, painting in black will hide the current layer, and painting in white will reveal the current layer. This is a much better way of removing visible areas on a layer than using the Eraser tool because the layer mask does not alter the original image – by removing the layer mask, the original image is shown.

As a last example, some image adjustments can be applied in two ways. The first, destructive way is to use the Image/Adjustments menu. Applying, for example, a levels adjustment from here will cause the original image to alter. A non-destructive way would be to use a Levels Adjustment layer instead:

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