Photoshop Question about Adjustment Layers not Saving Properly

[demianarend3]

Hi, I'm new to the Adobe Community (not Adobe products).  I hope I've placed this question in the right place/forum.  I have a Photoshop issue I'm hoping to resolve.  I've been using Photoshop for a few years now with generally great results and this is the most confounding problem I've had.  I've been applying a series of effects to some photos: adjustment layers and filters - a lot of the threshold adjustment layer in particular.  First time around I got exactly the effect I wanted, but with subsequent photos I get the effect I want in Photoshop but then I go to look at the saved PNG or JPEG and the effect seems not to have taken hold or not completely.  It seems to be there partially, almost like a mid-way point between the original picture and the effects -but something very different from what I see in Photoshop and not what I want.  I can't seem to find any reason for why this is happening and have never had any sort of problem with saving images before.  And again things worked fine the first time around, so I'm baffled.  Many thanks in advance to anyone who attempts to answer this question.

Sincerely,

Demian Arend       

[c.pfaffenbichler]

Could you please post a screenshot of the layered file taken at View > 100% with the pertinent Panels (Layers, Channels, Options Bar, …) visible and the resulting jpg?

[rob day]

You have to watch out for what's underneath transparency.

This is a gradient that includes 50% transparency at the top of the gradient, but there's nothing underneath it because I've hidden the background layer...

...or there might be no Background layer

JPEG doesn't allow transparency, so when the layer gets flattened during the export it changes color because it gets merged with the canvas whether there's a background layer or not:

I need to show the filled background layer to show the effect of flattening in the JPEG in the layered version

The JPEG

[demianarend3]

Thanks for your interest, I appreciate.  But...I don't see how that could be it.  It seems to be a problem with an individual photo.  I've tested some other pics, all JPEGS, with the same exact effects and they seem to be working fine...

[D Fosse]

You need to view at 100% for an accurate adjustment preview. At any other zoom ratio the preview is not reliable.

For performance reasons, adjustment previews are calculated based on on-screen zoom ratio. Zoomed out, that's a down-scaled, downsampled version.

This happens when you have sharp pixel-level transitions, such as very noisy images, very fine detail, line art, halftone screens etc.The resampling (scaling) softens and blurs the image, resulting in intermediate levels not really there in the original. So when you commit and the calculation is performed on the full data, the effect seems to disappear. But in reality it was never there to begin with!

In a "normal" photograph this isn't an issue. It just happens in the circumstances mentioned above, and when you know that's the case, make it a habit to always check at 100% view.

[demianarend3]

Thank you, D Fosse.  I think you're right.  I checked the problem photo in question and I think it would, indeed, qualify as a "noisy" image, at least what appears in Photoshop.  This must be the issue -every other photo I've worked on is fine.

...So, if I understood everything correctly...I could alter the image before applying my finishing effects to avoid this problem? 

Thanks. -Demian

[D Fosse]

Just check it at 100% to see what the finished result will be.

[Sebastian Bleak]

Would you be able to share a screenshot of your entire screen? That way we can see your panels and it might give us better understanding to what's happening.

[Marlene Barnes 111]

I had this same problem yesterday ( I could not print my image as I saw it on the screen) and this is how I found your post. I had an idea of what may have caused Photoshop to not print the Threshold layers, so I tried an experiment and it worked. I was applying the Threshold layers to a smart object layer. Since I also had the original layer saved, I copied all of my Threshold layers to it and deleted all of the smart objects and smart layers. By doing this I was able to print only B&W without gray. The smart layers that I had applied (which were Ink Outlines and Poster Edges) did not need to be reproduced on the original layer because they had no effect once I applied Theshold layers. If you still would like to fix that one image that was giving you a problem, try this method, but be sure to make a duplicate image and only apply thr changes to that image. Just because it worked for me doesn't mean that it will work for you.

[Collin34239706sr18]

Im having the exact same issue... it was working find and then progressively started happening more. Now it doesnt work right at all.

The video is limited due to data threshhold so if you want pictures i can post that later.

[c.pfaffenbichler]

Could you please post screenshots taken at View > 100% with the pertinent Panels (Toolbar, Layers, Options Bar, …) visible? 

[PECourtejoie]

Hi, A good idea is to create a new window for your document, and setting it to 100% view.

You can record an action.

Open the Action panel: Window>Actions.

Click the New action button, name it, give it a shortcut.

Insert menu item (in the action panel flyout menu) then go to arrange>New window for untitled document.

(then go to that menu and click on the "New window for untitled document." again, in order to be able to record the next step)

Insert menu item (in the action panel flyout menu) then go to arrange>2 Up vertical

Insert menu item (in the action panel flyout menu) then go to View>100%.

Click the stop recording button.

Now you just need to play the action from the panel, or invoque its shortcut.

I checked an it worked on a different named document.

[Marlene Barnes 111]

I hope my reply helps because I may be discussing an issue that is not relevant to your question, but I think it will help some people with a confusing problem that I needed to solve. I apply many layers (smart layers, filters and adjustment layers) to my work and I found a long time ago that when an image is flattened, some effects will no longer be what I see on the screen. If I have changed the opacity of layers, especially when using blending options, I found that, prior to printing an image with many layers, it's a good idea to make a "snapshot" of the image first. On a PC, what you do is select the very top layer and then hold down Shift + Control+ Alt while pressing the "e" key. This "snapshot" is the identical image, with all of the correct layer properties that you see on the screen. So, if you want to save the image as a jpeg or a png, you can simply duplicate the entire image after you create the snapshot, and then in the duplicate you can delete all of the layers below the snapshot, making the file much smaller.  You should, of course, also save the original image keeping all the layers for future revisions as a psd or a tiff, etc. 

[c.pfaffenbichler]

… or simply preview at View > 100%. (Which may naturally not show the whole image, but for quick checks it might suffice.)

[NB, colourmanagement]

@c.pfaffenbichler I got the idea that the screen image when looking at a layered file is a "preview" of the calculated s flattened final - and to see what really happens when the layer effects are applied, one should flatten (temporarily). Does previewing at 100% (with layers intact) obiviate the need for this? 

I used to use "stamp visible" (with Alt down to keep the layers) for this to avoid forgetting I'd flattened and saving over the layered original 

neil barstow, colourmanagement net - adobe forum volunteer - co-author: 'getting colour right'
google me "neil barstow colourmanagement" for lots of free articles on colour management

[c.pfaffenbichler]

The caching-issue (Photoshop using downsampled stand-ins to preview the result of layers/styles/blend modes/…) is moot at View > 100% (or larger). 

The alternative that forces full resolution previewing at all magnifications (using Cache Level 1) has been impossible to use for several years now. 

So flattening (temporarily) is indeed a sensible option if one needs to preview an image at smaller magnifications (to see the whole of a large image for example). 

[NB, colourmanagement]

@c.pfaffenbichler thanks. Useful to know just how that works. 

neil B