When you have paying clients they will often ask for amends and if you plan ahead, you can make life a lot easier for yourself. All of the editing you perform in photoshop should always be non destructive.

What does this actually mean?

It basically means that any adjustments or changes you make in photoshop never permanently alter the original image file. You should be able to easily re-adjust the changes without any problems.
Think about this for a second, if you were to continuously edit the original image you really back yourself into a corner. If you make changes that you’re later unhappy with, you’ll wanna be able to go back and start over. But if you overwrite the original file it’s lost forever and you won’t be able to. Now this is a fairly simple concept to grasp for most people, but non destructive editing means a lot more than just keeping a copy of the original image on it’s own layer.

Any adjustments you make to brightness/contrast/hue/colour/saturation or anything else, should never be applied directly to the original image if you can help it. This includes any filters you may want to use or any erasing that needs to be done. It can all be done in a way that remains editable at all times. By taking the time to learn about Adjustment Layers, Smart Objects, Smart Filters and Layer Masks you’ll have a lot more control over your images.

Don’t worry, it’s easier than it sounds.

So, how can you control how everyone else sees your images?
Well the short answer is….

You can’t.

Everybody has their brightness, colour and contrast set differently. Not only that but there’s a whole range of different monitors, LCD, CRT, PLASMA all made by different companies with different colour profiles. Even different browsers will display images with subtle variations to the colour and brightness. It’s completely out of your hands.

It’s frustrating that you can’t guarantee that everyone sees the same thing as you on their own computer screens but it’s comparable to music in a way. The Artists/Musicians can produce something… But they can’t control how people hear it. Whether they listen to it on a top notch expensive Audio Note system or a cheap old knackered tape deck. How the listener experiences it is completely out of their control.

So you have to let it go a little bit.
I used to worry about this issue a lot. I was really concerned that the (FF0000) red that I see on my screen is probably a whole lot different to the exact same value red that you see. Now this may not seem like a such a big deal, but when you think in terms of web design and corporate identity how do you guarantee that people see the correct colour?

Think of the RED and WHITE of VODAFONE, the PINK and BLACK of HMV, the GREEN and YELLOW of BP and the ORANGE of ORANGE! These are not colours that can be compromised.

But go to Google Image Search and type in vodafone logo and look at all the various shades of red!!!??!!

Shocking…

How about the Orange logo?

These variations are a result of people uploading images that they think are the correct colour, they possibly even look the correct colour on their monitor. I really think there should be some kind of image police to stop people from uploading such awful images.

I’m lucky enough these days to not have to be stuck using a cheap and nasty LCD like I have in the past. Now I have a mac with a 23” Cinema Display. It’s professional industry standard stuff and at least now I know that on my screen it looks how it should.

Only now, there’s another issue entirely…

Printing something so that it looks exactly the same as it does on the screen is a complicated process and there’s a pretty steep learning curve if you’re gonna attempt to understand it. I know the things that I need to know but to be honest, CYMK, RGB, colour profiles, resolution, Gamut, I have a very basic understanding of this side of things.

Luckily, for the most part a very basic understanding is all you really need because there’s a whole profession dedicated to this called pre-press.

Knowledge alone isn’t enough.
It’s the ability to know when and why to use certain techniques that you should focus on, not the fact that you’ve acquired the knowledge.

It’s the actual process that will determine your outcome. This is where all of your energy and focus should lie. So share everything you know and learn from others, but then apply that knowledge.

Work to the best of your ability… Then you’ll gain a significant competitive advantage.