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When editing photos, I usually launch an image into Adobe Camera Raw from Bridge, edit it as much as I deem appropriate and then move it into Photoshop to finish things up. I actually have a Preset that I use quite often in Camera Raw for most of my food photography. After I apply the Preset and tweak the photo a bit to customize it, I’ll launch it into Photoshop, which will automatically close down Camera Raw.

This has proven to be a fairly efficient workflow. The issue that has arisen, though, is that I’m finding myself not always absolutely happy with the product I move from Camera Raw into Photoshop. Because of this, I’m forced to start all over again. Again, I’ll launch the image from Bridge into Camera Raw, edit the image using the Preset I made, tweak the photo a little differently this time and finally, transfer the edited image to Photoshop. If I’m not happy again, I’ll need to repeat this process one more time or until I get it right.

A few days ago, I wondered if I could open an image into Photoshop from the get-go and turn the photo layer into an eternally editable Smart Object. From there, I can take advantage of the Camera Raw Filter and perform my usual Preset edits that way, right inside of Camera Raw. When finished, I would close Camera Raw and have the edited file sitting there inside of Photoshop, where it was. If I needed to re-edit, I could simply do so from Photoshop.

I’m happy to report that this process works wonderfully. And because it works so well, I’ve decided to lay out exactly what I did here. So, if you’re interested in making an already efficient workflow even more efficient, read on below. This one is especially good because I’ll throw in a concept from one of my previous posts that will make the entire process lightening fast.

Previous Posts You Should Read

In the post below, I’ll be using some ideas I’ve written about in previous posts. While you’re welcome to breeze through what I share below, it would probably be most helpful if you review what I link to below. Whatever you would like to do is fine, just know that all the resources you’ll need are right here.

How to Save Tool Presets in Adobe Camera Raw

What are Smart Objects in Adobe Photoshop?

Using Camera Raw as a Filter Inside Adobe Photoshop

How to Create Actions with Camera Raw Inside Adobe Photoshop

Demo Photo

For this post, I’ll be using the image below. What you’re looking at is what I’d like the photo to eventually look like. The original is much more dull as you’ll quickly discover in the next section.

Creating a Smart Filter

After opening the photo into Adobe Photoshop, I’ll head straight to the Filter > Convert For Smart Filters menu item and click.

When I do this, a small warning box will appear, telling me that my action will turn the layer into a Smart Object.

Once I click OK, I’ll see a small box appear in the lower right side of the layer thumbnail in the Layers panel.

At this point, you may be asking yourself what the difference between a Smart Object and a Smart Filter is. Well, any filter applied to a Smart Object is a Smart Filter. So, when you create a Smart Filter, all you’re doing is creating a Smart Object that you’ll apply a filter to. Ask me why Adobe broke this task up like this as opposed to simply telling us to create a Smart Object and then apply a filter to it and I’ll tell you that I have absolutely no idea.

Anyway, now that the layer has been converted over, I can go ahead with the remaining steps of this project.

Creating an Action

By now, you should know how to create an action in Photoshop. If you don’t, I have a post that will explain everything in very simple to follow detail. You can view that post here.

I’ll head up to the Actions panel and, after selecting the freshly created Demo Actions folder, will click the Create New Action icon.

Immediately, the New Action dialog will appear, giving me the opportunity to name the action I’d like to make. In this case, I’ll call it Camera Raw Preset because that’s all I’ll be using with this task.

After I name the action and click Record, a small red circle will appear at the bottom of the Actions panel. That means my action is being recorded. Also, I’ll see the beginnings of the new action appear in the Demo Actions folder (set) in the Actions panel. I’ve outlined all this in red in the below screenshot.

From here, I can head up to the Filter > Camera Raw Filter menu item and click.

This will open Camera Raw right inside Photoshop. I’ll head straight to the Presets panel and click on my preset to activate it.

Then, since I think the Exposure setting is too strong, I’ll head to the Basic panel and push that slider to the left just a bit.

Finally, when I’m happy with the image, I’ll click the OK button down at the bottom right, which will cause Camera Raw to close out and me to return to Photoshop. In between that, I’ll see a status bar telling me the progress of the filter.

At last, I’ll click the Stop button at the bottom of the Action panel in Photoshop to create the action. At this point, I should see the action and Camera Raw Filter step in the panel.

If you look at the screenshot above, you’ll see that I clicked the small arrow to the left of the Camera Raw Filter step. Doing that exposed all the data that was transferred over to Photoshop from Camera Raw. This isn’t too critical, but I did want to show you that you can expand the action steps for a closer look.

The Benefit of Smart Filters

Okay, I just went over a heck of a lot of stuff. It sort of looked like the same steps from my previous post. There is, however, one huge difference between this post and the last one and it’s this; let’s say that I don’t like the output from Camera Raw. If I wanted to go back to Camera Raw to make a change, whether it be large or small, all I would need to do is to double click on the Camera Raw Filter text that sits directly under the Smart Filters object in the Layers panel.

If I did that, Camera Raw would open back up and I would be able to see all of the edits I made previously. I could make any additional changes I saw fit and then I could click OK again. Those changes would then be applied to the image sitting inside Photoshop. I could do this a million times if I wanted to because of the mere fact that I created a Smart Object, which is completely editable, to begin with. It’s like magic. And that was the purpose of this tutorial.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this post, please leave them in the comment section below. As always, thanks for reading!

For today’s post, I’m going to work on another quick project. I’ll fall back on two previous posts I wrote a while ago and use the lessons learned in them to take care of a few editing methods I’ll need for this one. Nothing is too difficult here, but a few steps need to be followed carefully.

Basically, the goal I have today is to isolate the bird in the photo below and sharpen it. While there are multiple methods for going about this, I’ll use the most efficient. Knowing that the bird is already in focus, while the background of the photo isn’t, I’ll take advantage of the Focus Area Selection feature inside of Photoshop. Then, once I’ve got the selection taken care of, I’ll move toward the actual sharpening of the bird. For that part, I’ll take advantage of the Smart Sharpen Filter feature. By the end of this post, you’ll hopefully have a clear picture of how you can use isolated ideas to complete a project like the one I’ll show you below.

Original Photo

For this post, I looked for a photo that had a distinction between the subject and the background. I think I hit the nail on the head with this one. I’m not sure you can get any more distinct. Now, just because both areas of this photo are fairly far apart from one another doesn’t mean I don’t need to take care when creating my selection. I did a few test runs of what I’d like to demonstrate below and I think you’ll be impressed by a few tips I’ll let you in on. This photo worked out perfectly for everything I’d like to include.

Previous Posts

I’m going to move kind of fast through this post. Don’t let that stop you from learning everything you’d like to learn though. Below, I’ll give you a few links to posts that go into more depth than what I’ll share here. If interested, please go ahead and read through these additional resources.

Selecting a Specific Focus Area in Adobe Photoshop

The 3 Best Ways to Sharpen Photos in Adobe Photoshop

Selecting with Focus Area

To select the bird in this image, I’ll head up to the Select > Focus Area menu item.

Once I click this menu item, the Focus Area dialog box will appear. Also, right after the dialog opens up, areas that aren’t in focus will begin being removed from the image.

Also, some of the bird may be inadvertently removed. To deal with how much of the out-of-focus area I want to get rid of, I’ll need to push the In-Focus Range slider around. For more on this, please refer to this post. I cover the concept more extensively there.

Next, I’ll use the small brushes to add material back to and remove it from the image. These two brushes are the ones that I outlined in red below. They have the small + and – in the icons.

Once I have pretty much all the out of focus background gone, I’ll change the Output drop-down selection to New Layer with Layer Mask and then click the Select and Mask button, which will bring me to an area where I can refine the edge of my selected area. If you’re interested in learning how to refine an edge of a selection in Photoshop, please check out the post I link to below. It’s really good and explains a lot.

Basically, by choosing the New Layer with Layer Mask option, Photoshop will take the selected area and turn it into a mask, which will give me flexibility in the future. By clicking on the Select and Mask button, I’ll have the ability to remove some of the jaggedness from the selection edges and smooth them out so they’re the way I’d like to see them in the final result.

Selecting Objects & Refining Edges in Adobe Photoshop

After I finish refining the edge, I’ll press the OK button to close out the Refine Edge dialog box and to return to the normal workspace.

I’ll end up with this:

Just to let you know, all I did here was select the bird and then mask what was inside the selected area. It’s a very straightforward process that seems complicated because of the additional options I used. If necessary, I could have done all of these steps by hand. Good thing Photoshop comes with these built-in tools.

Also, since the bird is masked, I had to do some slight touching up with the paint brush, using black. By using black, I was able to remove some narrow areas between some feathers that weren’t removed with the Focus Area tool. It’s all good now.

Would you like to learn more about masks and masking inside of Photoshop? If so, I’ve got something for you.

What are Layer Masks in Adobe Photoshop?

Sharpening with Smart Sharpen

Okay, on to the fun stuff. Now that I have the bird isolated from the background, I can go ahead and sharpen it. To do this, I’ll first make sure the actual bird is selected in the Layers panel.

The reason I need to double check this is because it’s easy to overlook. Whatever is selected in the Layers panel is what will be sharpened, so it’s a good idea to be actually focused on the image itself.

Anyway, next, I’ll head up to the Filter > Sharpen > Smart Sharpen menu item and click.

Doing this will open the Smart Sharpen dialog box.

For this section, I’ll follow the instructions I gave in this post. Those instructions cover the material in the top part of this dialog box. I’ll ignore the Shadows and Highlights sections because I really don’t need to change anything there.

I’ll go ahead and move the sliders for the sharpening aspects.

Finally, because I don’t see any types of obvious or mistaken blur in this image, I’ll leave the Remove area untouched. If there was some sort of gaussian, motion or lens blur in the image, I could attempt to remove some of it with this control. I’ll just head over to the OK button and click on it.

Once I’m back in the regular workspace, I can click the small eye that controls the layer visibility for the bottom layer.

This will turn the blurry background back on and I’ll be able to see the finished product.

Now, what’s really cool about this process is that I was able to separate the part of the photo that was in focus from the part of the photo that was out of focus. If I wanted to go for an even more extreme effect, I could duplicate the masked layer, invert the mask and blur the background. That would really make the bird pop out of the photo even more. For now though, I’ll leave things alone.

Basically, with this post, I wanted to show you a quick project workflow that would demonstrate how to sharpen just a part of a photo. As I stated above, there are a bunch of ways to do this and I chose just one. Perhaps in the future, I’ll go over other methods as well.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this post, please leave them in the comment section below. As always, thanks for reading!

If you’ve ever edited video, you probably know all about how “choppy” the playback can be while working in your favorite application. There are a few reasons for this choppiness and they all revolve around your computer’s resources. Not enough RAM, a video card that doesn’t have enough power, a processor that’s too slow – all reasons to cause skipping, freezing and an overall horrible experience.

In today’s post, I’m going to quickly outline two areas that will help you immensely while working inside of Adobe Photoshop. Whether you know this or not, I’m here to tell you that life doesn’t have to be excruciating in this respect. With the adjustments of just two settings, you can edit video inside Photoshop in a relatively smooth manner with only 8GB of RAM. I know, it doesn’t sound possible. Read on to see how it actually is.

What is Playback?

Before I begin, I thought I’d give you a bit of behind the scenes insight to my thinking. When I refer to “playback” in this post, I’m referring to the act of playing back a video or clips of different videos inside of the Photoshop interface for review. Playback is different than the final product. Inside of Photoshop, it doesn’t matter what you do to the settings I describe below. Even if you reduce them to their lowest quality, the video, after being rendered, will remain at its initial quality. Playback is merely a “review” of the original, so don’t concern yourself with how lousy things look inside the editor.

The Video Interface

For this demonstration, I’ll need to open a video file into Photoshop. I chose a nice clip of a flower with a few bees buzzing around it.

The two methods to increase playback efficiency are quite simple to find. I’ll list both of them, with descriptions, below.

Allow Frame Skipping

When playing back a video, Photoshop has the ability to skip frames that haven’t yet been cached by your system. This speeds up and smooths out what you’re watching. To enable the Allow Frame Skipping feature, head over to the small menu that sits at the top right of the Timeline panel.

As you play and replay your file, your system will eventually cache many more frames. This will result in an even smoother playback.

Adjust Resolution

Even more important than skipping frames is the resolution of your working video file. Not the original or the final cut, but the working version. If you head over to the playhead controls on the left side of the Timeline panel, you’ll see a small icon that looks like a gear. If you roll over this icon, a small popup will appear that says Set Playback Options. Click the gear and you’ll see this:

Inside this options area is a drop-down and a check box. The check box controls whether or not your playback loops back to the beginning of the video once it hits the end. Changing this setting is up to you, but just realize that it has nothing to do with altering the efficiency of your editing experience.

The area that needs to be focused on is the Resolution. Setting this to 100% (which is the default) will cause all sorts of issues if your system isn’t up to snuff. Actually, if you’re dealing with problems, this is most likely the cause. By reducing the video’s virtual resolution to 50%, you’ll most likely alleviate many of those issues. Staying with 50% resolution is a very good idea. While you’ll lose a slight bit of clarity, you’ll make up for it in ease of use. Also, if your computer is really low on RAM, you may want to reduce the resolution even further to 25%, but please understand that the clarity of what you’ll be working with may be extraordinarily pixelated. 50% is a happy medium.

I recently added 8GB in addition RAM to my computer, so many of the issues I was dealing with cleared up. I still dealt with some stuttering though, until I altered the settings I described above. I couldn’t be happier with the result. Now, when I edit any type of video, it’s smooth sailing.

If you’re experiencing problems while editing video in Adobe Photoshop, please give what I wrote in this post a chance. Also, if you have any questions or concerns regarding this post, please leave them in the comment section below. Thanks for reading!

By this point, you probably know how important Smart Objects can be when it comes to editing photos in Adobe Photoshop. What you may not know is that the concept that’s applied to photos is also applied to video in the same application. Smart Objects are a critical piece of editing with the freedom of resizing, reshaping, twisting and turning. No matter what you do to a Smart Object, you can rest assured that the original is still available and it hasn’t been destroyed in any way.

By the way, if you’d like a refresher on Smart Objects in Photoshop, please read through the posts I link to below.

What are Smart Objects in Adobe Photoshop?

Converting Multiple Layers into a Smart Object in Adobe Photoshop

Linking a Smart Object to a File in Adobe Photoshop

Editing RAW Files as Smart Objects in Adobe Photoshop

The Difference Between Duplicate Smart Objects in Adobe Photoshop

There are more posts, but I didn’t want to go nuts with the linking here. If you really truly have an interest, simply search “smart objects” in the search bar above.

In today’s post, I’ll demonstrate how to work with two video clips at the same time. I’ll convert one of the clips into a Smart Object and then set it up so it transforms in size. Then, I’ll export the final product and post the movie here so you can see it. Along the way, I’ll explain the importance of working with Smart Objects during video production in Photoshop.

Opening & Combining Clips Into the Same Tab

It’s easy to open multiple video clips into Adobe Photoshop. It’s even easier to combine all those clips into one tab. Below, I’ll explain exactly how to do that.

First, I’ll head up to the File > Open menu item and click. I’ll locate the video clip I’d like to launch into Photoshop and select it so it opens in its own tab.

Next, I’ll do the same exact thing for the second video clip I’d like to launch into Photoshop. Once both files are opened up, I’ll have two tabs with one video in each.

In the above screenshot, please excuse the third tab. I’m using that one to create these graphics.

To combine the second clip into the tab the first clip is in, all I need to do is, inside the second tab, click and drag the video layer onto the first tab. After that, while continuing to drag, move the layer down on top of the first video. Then, I’ll let go.

In the above screenshot, you can see the ghost of the layer being dragged and dropped into the first tab. After they’re both included, they should reside inside of the same group. In the next screenshot, you’ll see them stacked in the Layers panel. They’ll be contained in Video Group 1.

When video clips are contained in a group, they play sequentially. This is shown in the Timeline panel above. In order to have both clips play in parallel, I’ll need to break the group apart. To achieve this, I’ll simply right-click on the Video Group 1 layer and select Ungroup Layers from the menu that appears.

Now, if you look at the next screenshot, you’ll see the “Group” layer in the Layers panel has disappeared. Also, the two video clips are no longer forced to play sequentially.

If I click and drag Layer 2 over to the beginning of the Timeline panel, both clips will play at the same time. Perfect.

Creating a Smart Object

The goal for this project is to have Layer 2 start off very small in the upper right corner of the Video 1 layer and transition to a window that measures about 25% of the larger video. Basically, I’d like to have two videos playing at the same time. I want one of them full size and the other a smaller size. I’d like the entire video to last a bit over 20 seconds and for about 5 of those seconds, I want the smaller video to transition from really small to just small.

There’s a funny thing that happens inside of Photoshop when you attempt to transform a video layer. Before you can accomplish the task, you’re told to make the layer a Smart Object. When I select the layer I want to transform and then press Ctrl+T (Command+T for Mac) on my keyboard, I see this message:

This message states: Transforming a video layer requires converting it to a smart object layer. So, to convert the layer, I can either click on the Convert button or do what I should have already done – manually converted the layer.

To convert a layer to a Smart Object, right click on the layer in the Layers panel. Then, inside the menu that appears, choose Convert to Smart Object. When I need to transform a layer from now on, I’ll know to take this step first, so I don’t waste time dealing with the pop-up box.

Once the layer has been converted to a Smart Object, it’ll turn purple down in the Timeline panel.

Trimming Unwanted Footage

As you may have noticed, both video clips aren’t the same length. One is around 22 seconds and the other is around 55. I’d like it so each clip is around 22 seconds long, so they match up.

To trim this longer video clip, all I need to do is hover my mouse over the far end of it until the pointer turns into a black half-square with a double-arrow that goes through it. When that happens, I can click and drag the video clip to the left until it snaps into position at the end of the shorter clip. Basically, I’m just clicking and dragging to shorten the clip.

This next screenshot shows the process about halfway through.

After I do that, I can move the Set End of Work Area marker so it trims off the millisecond difference from both clips, so they’ll end at exactly the same time.

Transforming the Layer

Okay, things are looking very good. I made all the preparations I needed to make and it’s time to transform the layer.

To make this transition, I’ll need to follow a few steps. First, I’ll open up the layer options by clicking on the small arrow that’s to the left of the layer name. This will expose the available transitions.

Next, I’ll press Ctrl+T (Command+T for Mac) on my keyboard to activate the free transform option. I’ll shrink the layer down to the size I’d like it to begin.

After that, I’ll position the layer where I want it to be when it’s small. I’ll create a few guides that will assist me when I’m enlarging the layer as well.

I want to stop here to mention something very quickly. As you can see, I’ve reduced the size of this layer quite a bit. If this was a photograph and I didn’t convert it to a Smart Object, you can probably imagine how horrible and pixelated it would look after I enlarged it again. Converting the layer to a Smart Object preserves the sharpness and quality, no matter what size you transform it to (as long as it’s no larger than the original). You can see why Photoshop makes Smart Object conversion mandatory with this type of transformation while working in video.

At this point, I can head back down to the Timeline panel, move the playhead to the position I want this transition to begin and click on the Transform stopwatch icon. This will add a keyframe to the timeline.

Now, I’ll push the playhead to the 5 second mark, transform the layer so it’s the size and position I want and press Enter on my keyboard. I’ll use the guides I set up to keep the small video in place (centered on the guides). Also, after I press Enter, Photoshop will automatically add the second keyframe. The first keyframe indicates the smaller size and the second keyframe indicates the larger size. Everything in between is transition performed automatically by Photoshop.

Here is the final size for the smaller video.

Rendering the Video

That’s it! All my editing is complete and I can render the video for output. To do this, I’ll head up to the File > Export > Render Video. I’ll be writing posts that focus on how to properly render video in the future, so I won’t harp on it now. I will, however, give you a quick screenshot of the Render Video dialog box.

Depending on the length and quality of the video, rendering my take a few minutes. In my case, it took about 60 seconds to complete.

I uploaded the video to Youtube and here it is. Please let me know what you think. Also, if you have any questions or concerns about this post, please let me know in the comment section below. Thanks for reading!

Editing Video in Adobe Photoshop – Converting Layer to Smart Object

For the longest time, I used the Rectangular Marquee Tool in Adobe Photoshop for all my cropping. I used it, it was great, things got done. It wasn’t until I learned about the power of the Crop Tool that I switched over to that. There are distinct benefits to using the Crop Tool and I talk about many of them in this post:

Using the Crop Tool in Adobe Photoshop

Through the years, instead of abandoning the Rectangular Marquee Tool entirely for this use, I decided to use it in conjunction with the Crop Tool. And in today’s post, I’ll show you why. As great as the Crop Tool is, it does have its disadvantages. There are some workarounds to those disadvantages, however, and I’ll talk about them below. By the end of this post, I hope you’ll get a grasp on how you can creatively use both of these tools to make your life easier while editing.

Demo Photo

For this post, I’ll be using a demo photo of a starry night. In this photo is a silhouette of a person and a vehicle. The reason I chose this image is because of the identifiable object in it. Since I’ll be cropping, I needed something to crop.

The Problems With the Marquee & the Crop Tools

In my intro, I indicated that there were a few issues with both the Rectangular Marquee Tool and the Crop Tool. In this section, I’ll let you know what those problems are.

Back when I used to crop with the Rectangular Marquee Tool, I quickly found that my method wasn’t all that great. For example, let’s say I wanted to crop inside of the demo photo.

In this case, to separate out what’s inside the marquee, I could either copy and paste the selection into a new file or I could simply use the Image > Crop menu item.

Either way, I’d be left with two undesirable scenarios.

First, after copying and pasting into a new file, I’d lose all the surrounding pixels from the old file. Basically, I’d lose the remainder of the image, so if I ever wanted to edit or change my crop later on, I couldn’t. When these pixels are gone, they’re gone. And actually, the same is true when using the Crop menu item. Those pixels get deleted as well.

Second, when cropping while using either of these two methods, it’s cumbersome. I can’t even tell you how many times I cropped and then said, “Hmmm, nope, I gotta go back and change that.” While cropping with the Rectangular Marquee Tool, going back to change things takes more steps than necessary. While it’s doable, which I can attest to, it becomes a pain in the side.

Now, you probably already know the Crop Tool in Photoshop is awesome. It’s potentially non-destructive (if using the proper setting) and is really easy to use. It’s also got some neat features that I’ve already covered in previous posts. There is one area that you need to be very careful of though and that’s making sure that you don’t delete any pixels while cropping. So, if I set up a crop area in my image like this:

I need to be extremely sensitive to this one setting up here:

If the Delete Cropped Pixels setting is checked, my cropped image will have the same characteristics as the one where I used the marquee tool. Any surrounding pixels will be deleted and that’s what I call destructive editing. That’s no good. Left unchecked, all of the pixels in the entire image will be saved leaving me the opportunity to go back and change my crop later on.

Applying a Filter

You may be asking yourself, “If using the Crop Tool is so much more flexible and less destructive than the marquee tool, why not just use that all the time?” Well, here’s your answer. Let’s say I wanted to apply some soft of filter to the cropped part of the image. While not all filters do this, some do. They open up a dialog box that shows the entire image, even after it’s been cropped. Basically, because this method of cropping is non-destructive, everything shows while using these types of filters.

For this example, I’ll use the Lens Correction filter. I’ll just open the filter to show you what I’m talking about. Remember, I’ve already cropped the image to that small square.

Here’s the filter dialog box:

Yeah, that’s a problem. It may not seem like it in this case, but just imagine you were using a filter while targeting, very specifically, the cropped part of the image. If the entire thing opened up in the filter dialog box, how would you know where you cropped? You might think you know, but can you be absolutely sure? You wouldn’t be able to see the edges anymore. Everything is blended together.

This type of issue occurs when you use the following filters; Filter Gallery, Adaptive Wide Angle, Camera Raw Filter, Lens Correction and Liquify. All I’m saying is that photo editing is a very technical process. If you make a crop and then want to further edit the image, you certainly don’t need the entire photo returning. That’s as confusing as all get out.

The Solution to the Problem

So far, we’ve uncovered a few issues. In the first case, pixels were deleted, which is no good. In the second case, pixels remained, which was no good either. Let’s see if we can unearth a trick that will help us deal with both of these issues. I’d like to preserve all of the image but have the ability to use some of the Photoshop filters on just the cropped area.

This solution is so simple it’s going to make your head spin. To start off, I’ll crop the image using the Crop Tool.

Next, I’m going to use the following keyboard shortcuts (Command on Mac): Ctrl+A, Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V. All this does is select the entire cropped area using the Rectangular Marquee Tool, copy the area and then paste it into a new layer.

If you look at the above screenshot, you’ll see two layers. The top one is the copied and pasted layer, which consists of only those visible pixels. All other pixels have been deleted. The bottom layer is the entire image, but was cropped with the Crop Tool. So, that bottom layer has the entire image preserved inside of it, even though it’s not visible.

Now, if I head up to the Filter menu and click on Lens Correction, let’s see what happens.

Ahh, that’s better. Since I selected the top layer and chose the filter, only the cropped pixels are appearing. I can now go ahead and edit the filter the way I see fit, knowing that I have the entire image to fall back on if I need to do so. And the best part is, everything is contained in the same .PSD file, so I can open it and work on it any time I want. Now that’s workflow if I ever saw it.

This post may sound a bit confusing if you’re not familiar with these two cropping methods. I suggest you play with them a bit to get used to them and if you have and questions or concerns, please leave them in the comment section below. Thanks for reading!