Not all photoshop work involves reality-bending pixel manipulation. sometimes you might just want to tweak an image's colour balance or contrast values to get a more aesthetically-pleasing print.

Working smarter means taking control over how you adjust your image, and it's always useful to have the opportunity to experiment with your adjustments, and to be able to retrace your steps if things go wrong.

You'll be familiar with undoing steps using [ctrl]/[command]+[z], and perhaps with moving back through stored history steps using [shift]+[ctrl]+[z]. another way of experimenting with image editing that facilitates instant access to the original untouched file is to use adjustment layers. these enable you to make changes to a layer without altering any pixels on the layer itself.

This is an amazingly liberating way of working, as you don't have to worry about permanently altering the original content. to undo an adjustment layer just drag it to the trash can in the layers palette, or turn it off using the eye icon.

Adjustment layers:

the quickest way to add an adjustment layer is by clicking on the shortcut option at the foot of the layers palette. alternatively, go to layer > new adjustment layer in the main menu.

If you make a selection on your original layer using the lasso tool, for example, any adjustment layers you create will only affect the selected area. each new adjustment will include a mask to protect the unselected parts of the image.

Build up your image adjustments slowly and effectively by combining the effects of multiple adjustment layers. you can then turn them on and off to fine-tune the overall effect.

You can quickly identify adjustment layers by the thumbnail icons attached to the corresponding layer. they're also appropriately labelled, to help you see which layer applies which effect.

For more information on Photoshop Layers visit: Photoshop Layers