Strange Photoshop Question

mercphoto

Odd.... when Photoshop is saving my JPG it's disregarding the opacity setting on my layers, temporarily converting it to 100% opacity. Yikes! What's wrong? It does this if I Flatten Image manually as well. TIFF or PSD starting point.

Photoshop CS3, Mac OS-X 10.6.4.

Icebear

Wow. That's a bit scary. I sit waiting nervously, never having experienced your issue, but hoping a guru steps in (he/she will, never fear) to tell us the easy fix. 'Cause if it happens to anyone, it'll happen to me.

Richard

Do you mean in the final image or when it is flattening the various layers? I'm not sure transparency/opacity is supported by the JPG format. If you need transparency, use GIF or PNG.

Icebear

But if he saves as jpg, it'll ask him if he wants to flatten the image, right? JPG doesn't support layers at all does it? Boy will I be embarassed if it does.

mercphoto

Richard wrote: »

Do you mean in the final image or when it is flattening the various layers? I'm not sure transparency/opacity is supported by the JPG format. If you need transparency, use GIF or PNG.

The flattened image should look like the layered version but it does not. The layer that should be a bit transparent is not. I know jpg does not support layers or opacity...

Richard

Hmm...can you post a screen shot of the pre-flattened image and layers palette and the also the final jpg? This does sound strange.

mercphoto

Can't get a screen shot of the layers pallete because whenever I switch to the "Grab" utility it hides the layer's palette.

Oddly, Aperture exports the image from the TIFF file as expected. At least it gives me a solution!



Here is what Photoshop did. Notice how the top image is stronger, more vibrant, because it threw away the opacity setting of the layer that image was in.

ivar

Looks like there is an extra layer on the right (green/grass triangular bit) that shows in the second image?

EDIT: or is that part of the bottom layer?

Icebear

:lurk

Icebear

Oh, Bill. Not to add more anxiety, but GM has been known to get real ornery when the Corvette Badge and name are included in any photo that could be remotely called commercial. There've been threads here about it.

pathfinder

Hit ctrl+alt+shift-e to create a new final layer of all the layers below, before collapsing your file to a single layer. That's how I do it anyway..

Richard

I can see several differences in the two images, but I'm not sure I understand how each was produced. Besides the grass patch that Ivar pointed out, the red text in the lower image seems stronger as does the shrubbery below it.

I wonder whether you looked at the pic in PS at 100% magnification before flattening. I have noticed in the past that smaller previews can be misleading. Usually it doesn't matter, but sometimes there are surprises in the final version. Adobe has acknowledged the problem but doesn't like to talk about it much.

beetle8

.jpg doesn't support transparency but it should respect opacity levels in a composite if there is an underlying layer. Meaning if there is something completely consuming the area underneath the layer that you are reducing the opacity on then the end result should be as previewed. But I'll bet that if there is a portion that has nothing under it, then you are basicly asking for transparency and PS is disregarding the opacity setting in a .jpg save. As mentioned above try a merge visible with ctrl+alt+shift+e, you could also try control A then >image >crop to remove parts of that layer outside of the canvas that may be throwing PS. Also try starting your comp on a solid canvas.