How do you reduce the size of a photo while keeping all the layers?

[Emah Duck]

Photoshop 2015, PC, Windows 10.  I am creating a montage 16"x20", to be printed.  It has many layers which I want to keep as layers and the size is now 2GB, which is unworkable.  How can I keep the layers while reducing the size?  File>Export is grayed out.  ALSO: how small can each layer/photo be and still show up after it's printed?

[c.pfaffenbichler]

the size is now 2GB, which is unworkable.

tif and psb can be more than 2 GB.

How can I keep the layers while reducing the size?

Remove unnecessary content, for example hidden layers, off-canvas elements, alpha channels, …

Also try tif with appropriate compression settings. 

ALSO: how small can each layer/photo be and still show up after it's printed?

What does this mean?

Maybe you should provide more detail, screenshots, …

[Emah Duck]

I don't think I have any hidden layers or smart objects.  I don't know what alpha channels and off-canvas elements are.    It looks like some of the photos will be 1/2 inch wide and some might be 2 inches, and I was wondering how low the resolution can go without losing quality.  Here's a screenshot:

[c.pfaffenbichler]

Could you provide a screenshot with the Layers Panel.

I don't know what alpha channels and off-canvas elements are.

• Alpha Channels are additional Channels beside the composite Channels (RGB or CMYK for example) and can be selected etc. in the Channels Panel.

• With off-canvas content I meant pixel Layer content that extends beyond the canvas and therefore is invisible. It might be needed later on, so clipping it is not always prudent, but if not Select > All and Image > Crop should generally take care of it.

[Emah Duck]

Thank you.  I have RGB color and nothing extends beyond the canvas because I'm leaving a border. 

[War Unicorn]

How much RAM (memory) do you have in your system?

If this is a 16-bit color document, Photoshop will eat your memory like it's candy. (e.g., a 16-bit document uses about twice the memory of an 8-bit document, sometimes more depending on image.) Compounding this is every layer added, whether it's a raster or Smart Object layer. You can cut down on memory usage by resizing the layers as you have but it looks like you have a lot of layers, though I've never really heard of users running into trouble with nothing but resized raster layers.

Photoshop CC is up to version 2017.1.1 now, which is a fair bit of versions above of version 2015. (About 6 or 7 versions if we include all the versions between 2015 and 2017.1.1.) Any reason why you haven't upgraded (or tried it out) yet?

[Emah Duck]

How can I tell if this is 8 bit or 16 bit?

Photoshop 15 is the upgrade that I got in March.

[Emah Duck]

RAM = 16GB

[c.pfaffenbichler]

Warunicorn was referring to the bit-depth of the image (Image > Mode > …).

[Emah Duck]

As you can see, there are many, many layers.  Here is a screenshot of some of them:

[c.pfaffenbichler]

And the screenshot indicates that most of the ones visible in the screenshot are Smart Objects.

Good for you, working wth Smart Objects is highly recommendable in many cases, including this one.

But it can affect the file size.

Are the SOs layered themselves or flat?

[Emah Duck]

How can you tell that I am using smart objects?  I have been adding text (names) to the photos and then flattening the image before adding them.  I may have missed flattening some of them.

I have "saved for the web" in an attempt to reduce the file size of the photos that I'm adding, but when I slide them into the montage, Photoshop converts them to jpgs and increases the file size **sigh**.

[Emah Duck]

In Image>Mode, 8 bit is grayed out.

[Emah Duck]

Ah!  I just found the answer to how you could tell the layers are smart objects!  The little box in the lower right corner!

[c.pfaffenbichler]

How can you tell that I am using smart objects?

The icons in the Layers Panel.

[War Unicorn]

https://forums.adobe.com/people/Emah+Duck  wrote

How can you tell that I am using smart objects?  I have been adding text (names) to the photos and then flattening the image before adding them.  I may have missed flattening some of them.

I have "saved for the web" in an attempt to reduce the file size of the photos that I'm adding, but when I slide them into the montage, Photoshop converts them to jpgs and increases the file size **sigh**.

Photoshop doesn't keep the image in question imported as an actual JPEG in the document itself. Photoshop does its conversion magic based upon document settings. (e.g., 16-bit color, 200 DPI.) The only point it becomes an actual JPEG is when you export the whole document at the end when you're done.

Not sure why 8-bit is not available for you under Mode. Something could be wrong, either with preferences or Photoshop itself. One of the things to try is to disable any 3rd-party plugins (if you have any).

16 GB of memory is pretty good; the more, the merrier. Windows itself likes to have about 4 GB comfortably. Make sure anything non-essential isn't running other than Photoshop.

Are you using the CC Desktop App? It's the central hub for any updates and versions to apps like Photoshop:

Download Creative Cloud desktop app

[Emah Duck]

I didn't put any add-ins into Photoshop.  I am not using CC; I am using Photoshop 15. 

[Emah Duck]

I changed the canvas size to 5000x4000 pixels and it clipped the montage.

[davescm]

https://forums.adobe.com/people/Emah+Duck  wrote

...................  I am not using CC; I am using Photoshop 15. 

Can you clarify please.

Are you using Photoshop 15 which was released as Photoshop CC 2014 and has been updated several times since ?.

or

Are you using Photoshop Elements 15?

Dave

[Emah Duck]

Photoshop Elements 15.  I downloaded the CC app, as recommended above, as few minutes ago and I have not had a chance to look at it yet. 

[davescm]

Hi

I've moved your post to the Photoshop Elements forum. The comments in the posts above still apply , but some menu items are different in Elements so you are better getting advice in that forum.

Dave

[Emah Duck]

Thank you.  I hope I don't lose touch with the kind and expert people who have been helping me. 

[davescm]

Anyone following your post will continue to get notifications as new posts are added so that should not be a problem.

You said that you reduced the canvas size - that would clip your image. If you really need to reduce the pixel dimensions, use image size which will reduce pixels without cropping. However - this may not reduce your image by as much as you think - as the contents of each smart object will remain the same size.

Dave

[Emah Duck]

Under Image Size, I don't have an option for pixels.  I have percent,

inches, centimeters, millimeters, points, picas, columns.

When I send this to you, will it post on the webpage?

[c.pfaffenbichler]

Does the image contain Smart Objects?