Save to a new file and open the original again. It is a good idea to save to multiple files as you work anyway. You never know when you might have a problem mid save and loose everything because your only copy of a file was just corrupted. Once you finish a project backup the final and then you can delete the files you no longer need.
If the file isn’t too large you could also paste the original to the top layer and turn visibility off or on to see the changes.
File>Duplicate.
Go to your history palette. Click on the thumbnail at the top.
That is your original image as it was last saved.
A habit I always use: I leave the background layer untouched – in it’s original form.
Then I can toggle my other layers on/off to see the difference. I always like to see a before and after.
Arthur,
Although Jasons way will work and that is what it was designed for it can cause BIG problems. Unfortunately all it takes is an accidental change while looking at the open state to loose all your changes. As long as you CTRL-Z right away you are fine. But if you make two changes before you realize what you did not even CTRL-ALT-Z will save you because it needs history states to work.
Pasting the original to the top layer is much safer and easier than toggling all the layer visibility off especially if you have several layers in mixed states of visibility. By the time you hide all the layers except the background you forget what the current image looked like anyway.
"By the time you hide all the layers except the background you forget what the current image looked like anyway."
This can be done with one click…
Jason,
How? The only way I know of is by ALT Clicking the layer you want to remain visible. ALT Clicking again makes all the layers visible, including layers where you had visibility turned off.
If there is another way? If so I am very interested. Please share.
"ALT Clicking the layer you want to remain visible"
There you go.
With any of the methods mentioned here(as with just about anything in Photoshop), there is the possibility of making a fatal mistake. The user has to keep track at all times what they are doing and pay close attention.
Jason,
Like I said ALT Clicking doesn’t work if you have layers that already have visibility turned off because you have no way to revert back.
I just always put a copy of the original on the top layer ("lock all" to avoid changing it by mistake) and toggle it’s visibility to see how the changes look. It always works. As an added bonus you can add a layer mask or use blending modes to see how your changes effect the overall piece.
Photohelp’s idea is interesting. Thanks. I have had the same problems with toggling the backround, and have usually kept the original untouched in a separate file.
Another way is to make snapshots, which I now do when I am usung the Clone or airbrush tools.
I always make a snapshot and right click on it – New Document from snapshot.
That’s why they make 31 flavors of ice cream.
