The Power of Undo

Thankfully, Photoshop is extremely forgiving: It'll let you back out of almost anything yous practise, which is muy importante , especially when you're getting the hang of things.

You lot've got several ways to retrace your steps, including the lifesaving Undo command. Just choose Edit→Undo or press ⌘-Z (Ctrl+Z). This control lets y'all undo the very terminal edit you fabricated.

If you need to go back more than ane footstep, utilise the Pace Backward command instead: Choose Edit→Step Backward or press Choice-⌘-Z (Alt+Ctrl+Z). Directly from the factory, this control lets yous undo the last 50 things you lot did, i at a time. If you desire to get back even further, you can change that number by digging into Photoshop'south preferences, as the side by side section explains. You can step forward through your editing history, too, past choosing Edit→Step Forward or Shift-⌘-Z (Shift+Ctrl+Z).

Annotation

Photoshop just lets you undo changes back to the point when you first opened the document you're working on, meaning you can't close a document so undo changes you made before y'all closed it.

Irresolute How Far Dorsum Y'all Can Go

If you retrieve you might anytime demand to go back further than your last 50 steps, yous can make Photoshop remember upwardly to ane,000 steps by irresolute the programme's preferences. Hither'south how:

  1. Choose Photoshop → Preferences → Performance (Edit → Preferences → Performance on a PC) .

  2. In the Preferences dialog box ' sHistory States field, choice the number of steps yous want Photoshop to remember .

    You can enter any number between 1 and 1,000 in this field. While increasing the number of history states might help you sleep better, doing and then ways Photoshop has to go on track of that many more versions of your document, which requires more than hard bulldoze space and processing power. So if you increase this setting and so notice that the program is running like molasses—or you're suddenly out of hard drive space—try lowering information technology.

  3. Click OK when y'all're finished .

Turning Back Time with the History Panel

Whereas the Disengage and Step Backward commands let you move back through changes one at a time, the History panel (Effigy one-10) kicks it upwardly a notch and lets y'all leap back several steps at once. (You can footstep dorsum through as many history states as you prepare in Photoshop's preferences—see the previous section.) Using the History panel is much quicker than undoing a long list of changes i by 1, and it gives you a nice list of exactly what tools and carte items you used to alter the image—in chronological gild from summit to bottom—letting you lot pinpoint the exact state y'all want to jump dorsum to. And, as explained in a moment, you can also accept snapshots of an epitome at diverse points in the editing process to go far easier to hop back to the state you want.

After you lot brand a few changes to an epitome, pop open up the History panel by clicking its button (circled in Figure one-10, tiptop) or past choosing Window→History. When you do, Photoshop opens a list of the last 50 things yous've done to the epitome, including opening it. To jump dorsum in time, click the step you want to go back to, and Photoshop returns the prototype to the way it looked at that point. If you hop dorsum further than yous hateful to, just click a more contempo step in the list.

Top: The History panel keeps track of everything you do to your images, starting with opening them. You can even take snapshots of an image at crucial points during the editing process, such as when you convert it to black and white and then add a color tint.Bottom: If you take a snapshot, you can revert to that state later with a single click. For example, if you've given your image a sepia (brown) tint and later changed it to blue, you can easily go back to the sepia version by clicking the snapshot you took of it, as shown here, without having to step back through all the other changes you made. What a timesaver!History states don't hang around forever—as soon as you close the document, they're history (ha!). If you think you'll ever want to return to an earlier version of the document, click the

Figure 1-10. Top: The History panel keeps rails of everything you exercise to your images, starting with opening them. You lot tin can even take snapshots of an epitome at crucial points during the editing procedure, such every bit when yous convert information technology to blackness and white and and then add together a color tint. Bottom: If yous take a snapshot, y'all can revert to that state later with a single click. For example, if you've given your paradigm a sepia (brown) tint and later changed it to blue, you lot tin can easily go dorsum to the sepia version by clicking the snapshot you took of information technology, as shown here, without having to stride back through all the other changes you made. What a timesaver! History states don't hang effectually forever—as soon equally you shut the certificate, they're history (ha!). If you think you'll ever desire to render to an before version of the document, click the "Create new document from current land" button at the lesser of the History panel (labeled in here). That way, you've got a totally dissever document to render to then you don't have to recreate that particular land.

If you'd similar the top of the History panel to include thumbnail previews showing what your image looks similar each and every time y'all save the document—in improver to the thumbnail you automatically get by opening the image—open the History panel's menu and choose History Options. In the resulting dialog box, turn on Automatically Create New Snapshot When Saving. Clicking one of these saved-state thumbnails is a fast and easy way to leap dorsum to the last saved version of the document.

Tip

You can also get back to the final saved version of a certificate by choosing File→Revert (The Revert Command).

Taking snapshots of an image along the way lets y'all marking key points in the editing process. A snapshot is more than than just a preview of the image—it also includes all the edits yous've fabricated upwards to that indicate. Think of snapshots as milestones in your editing work: When yous reach a critical point that y'all may desire to return to, take a snapshot then yous can easily go dorsum to that version of the document. To take a snapshot, click the camera icon at the bottom of the History console. Photoshop adds the snapshot to the top of the console, simply below the saved-state thumbnail(south). The snapshots yous take announced in the listing in the lodge y'all take them.

The History Brush

The History Brush takes the power of the History panel and lets you focus information technology on specific parts of an image. And then instead of sending the unabridged epitome back in time, you can use this brush to paint edits away selectively , revealing the previous state of your choosing. For instance, you could darken a portrait with the Burn tool (High-Contrast Blackness and White) so utilize the History Castor to undo some of the concealment if yous went as well far, as shown in Figure 1-eleven.

Here's how to use the History Brush to undo a serious burn you've practical:

  1. Open an paradigm—in this example, a photo of a person—and duplicate the image layer .

    You'll learn all nearly opening images in Chapter 2, but, for now, choose File→Open up; navigate to where the prototype lives on your computer, and then click Open. Next, duplicate the layer by pressing ⌘-J (Ctrl+J).

  2. Actuate the Burn tool by pressing Shift-O and and then darken function of your image .

    The Burn tool lives in a toolset, so cycle through those tools by pressing Shift-O a couple of times (its icon looks like a hand making an O shape). Then mouse over to your image and elevate beyond an expanse that needs concealment. Directly from the manufactory, this tool darkens images pretty severely, giving you a lot to undo with the History Brush.

    By using the History Brush set to the image's earlier state—see step 4 below—you can undo all kinds of effects, including a little over-darkening from using the Burn tool.You can reduce the opacity of the History Brush in the Options bar to make the change more gradual.The Art History Brush works similarly, but it adds bizarre, stylized effects as it returns your image to a previous state, as shown in the box on page 566.

    Figure ane-xi. By using the History Castor ready to the paradigm's earlier state—come across footstep 4 below—you lot can undo all kinds of effects, including a trivial over-darkening from using the Burn tool. You can reduce the opacity of the History Brush in the Options bar to make the change more than gradual. The Art History Castor works similarly, merely information technology adds bizarre, stylized effects equally it returns your image to a previous state, every bit shown in the box on page 566.

  3. Take hold of the History Brush past pressing Y .

    Yous'll learn all well-nigh brushes and their many options in Chapter 12.

  4. Open the History panel and and then click a saved state or snapshot .

    This is where you pick which version of the image you want to go back to. If y'all dragged more than once in step two, you'll see several Fire states listed in the panel. To reduce merely some of the concealment, choose one of the first Burn states; to get rid of all the darkening where you painted, choose the Open state. To pick a state, click in the panel's left-hand column adjacent to a state, and yous'll see the History Brush's icon announced in that column.

  5. Mouse over to your prototype and drag to pigment the areas that are too dark to reveal the lighter version of the epitome .

    To make your alter more gradual—if, say, yous clicked the Open state but yous don't desire to erase all the darkening—only lower the Opacity setting in the Options bar. That way, if you go on painting in the aforementioned place, you'll expose more and more than of the original epitome.

You can utilise the History Brush to easily undo anything yous've done; just pick the state you want to revert to in the History console, and so pigment away!

The Revert Control

If you've taken your image downwards a path of craziness from which yous can't rescue information technology past using Undo or the History console, yous tin revert back to its about recent saved state past choosing File→Revert. This control opens the previously saved version of the image, giving y'all a quick escape route back to square 1.

Notation

If you haven't made whatsoever changes to your epitome since information technology was last saved, you can't run the Revert control; information technology's dimmed in the File menu.

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