Photoshop and saved selections

[jjlphoto]

I have CS4. I do interiors, and they require layering lots of individual files together and making lots of selections, layer/layer masks, etc. Files get pretty unwieldy, 1.5~2GB. When all looks good, I do a Layer>>Flatten, then apply Edit>>Transform to get the image perspective perfected. However, if I want to go back and re-work an area, and I load one of my saved selections, it exists in its pre-transformed state. I don't care that individual layers are gone, I can usually get by with some subtle Hue/Sat or Level adjust. But not having the selections themselves get transformed along with the image is a bummer. Obviously, I am missing something when I do a Layer>>Flatten then Edit>>Transform.

[Mark D Segal]

I suggest what you missing is the "what to do when" here. I would recommend doing the transforms at first on a duplicate image layer BEFORE doing anything else, because this is unlikely to change once you are satisfied that you have them right. Then you would flatten it and build everything else on that. This way no matter what you amend, you are doing it on a transformed image. This has been my standard workflow and never causes regrets (yet!)

[jjlphoto]

Thanks for the suggestion, but the layering is done with so many images, sometime I find the need to go back to ACR and grab another image, that trying to transform first just wouldn't work with the method I use.

[Jonathan Ratzlaff]

Selections are saved as channels. That is why when you flatten an image they are still there.  Theoretically the whole business of layers is to preserve your original edit.  If you find your original to be unwieldy, use the image duplicate command and flatten the copy

[Lightbox]

Immediately after doing your final perspective correction using the Transform tool, click on your first saved channel, then go to Edit>Transform>Again, this will transform your channel using the same settings as used when you transformed the image. You can then go through and apply the Again command to each saved channel.

But as MarkDS mentioned above, its a much preffered workflow to transform your base image when you first take it into Photoshop.

[Peterretep]

John, I also do interiors in CS4 and do my perspective correction right at the end of working on a file. Any selections that I have saved also are corrected at the same time. You do this by going into your channels pallet. RGB and each of the 3 color channels are selected and highlighted in blue. To also select your selections SHIFT click each selection which then will also be selected and highlighted in blue. Click on the eye symbol to make the mask not visible. With your selections highlighted they will now change with the rest of the image.

Hope this helps,

Peter

Architectural Photography by Peter Montanti, www.mountainphotographics.com

[Lightbox]

Thanks Peter, this is a good improvement that speeds up workflow compared with separately correcting each channel, I wonder if there is a similar technique when using the liquify tool?