Flatten makes my image lighter

[aaronchan]

Dear all,

My friend sent me a psd file that he had already worked on.
The file has a background, a regular layer with some adj. and 3 adj. curves.
When we flatten the image, the image will go lighter.
I've also try to apply a new curve directly to the image with the same curve data, but it won't be as dark as the adj. layer as well.
I've check the doc. profile which is Adobe RGB.
I'm kind of lose right now.
Does anyone had this problem before?

Thanks
Aaron

[Stephen Girimont]

If I recall correctly, the few times I've seen this happen, choosing to merge all the layers rather than outright flatten the layers preserved the tones for some reason. Have you tried that?

[louoates]

I've had that problem once or twice. The best I can remember about it is that it had something to do with how the layers were stacked. It may have been that when I "merged down" the adjustment layer was no longer restricted to the layer below it. Or some such combination. When I went back and merged down the layers in a different order, the problem went away. Hope this helps.

[LKaven]

My friend sent me a psd file that he had already worked on.
The file has a background, a regular layer with some adj. and 3 adj. curves.
When we flatten the image, the image will go lighter.

The first thing to do is to view the file at 100%, which is the only size at which the rendering is guaranteed accurate.  Now does the same thing happen when you flatten the file when viewing at 100%? 

I have experienced this, and was advised as above in an Adobe forum.  At 100%, the rendering remained the same when I flattened.  As I recall, the edits I made were correct, and they showed correctly at 100%.

[Garnick]

Aaron,

I agree with Luke.  I was just about to offer this suggestion as well until I noticed Luke's post.  Yes, any adjustments you make to the image file appear correct only at percentages which are multiples of 12.5%(25, 50, 100, 200etc.).  However, viewing at 100% is usually the best approach, since the image then becomes large enough to also reveal any flaws that you might have missed previously.  Of course the same approach also applies when using type layers.  The fonts always appear jagged when view at odd percentages, anything other than described above.  And when using drop shadows, if you have to rotate the image for printing' always flatten first.  Otherwise the shadow will remain as set while the image rotates.  In other words, if you have created a shadow at the bottom and right side it would then be located on the right side and top after rotation.  The shadow will not rotate unless the image is flattened first.  You can unflatten after printing if required. 

I hope these posts are helpful.

Gary 

[aaronchan]

Thanks for all replies but none of it helps.
I'm trying to see if there's anyway i can crop a part of the picture and upload it as a psd format and see if anyone has a clue on it.

aaron

[kirkt]

In regard to the issue of rendering at zoom levels that are even (25, 33, 50% etc.) or at 100% only, what version of Photoshop are you using and, if it is CS5 or CS6, have you enabled your compatible graphics processor?  Have you tried turning the graphics processor settings on and off to see if the OpenGL rendering is potentially causing an issue?

Another thing to try is to stamp all of the visible layers (CMD-OPT-SHIFT-E [Mac] CTRL-ALT-SHIFT-E [PC]) to burn in all of your adjustment layers into a single layer at the top of the stack and then flatten - see if that makes a difference.  You will essentially be flattening everything into a single layer, but it will be a new layer.  The subsequent flattening process should not change anything.  You could even turn off or delete all of the underlying layers (the adjustments, etc.) and just proceed with your new stamped layer, if the stamped layer appears unchanged.

Another thing to try is to watch the histogram to see if the image flattening is changing the image data (black point, for example), or if the image just appears to be rendered "incorrectly" when you flatten it.

Basically, you want to see if you can figure out whether the image appearance is changing during flattening, or if the actual image data are changing (shifting BP or similar) during flattening compared to the image data as it is represented with the layer stack.

kirk

[BernardLanguillier]

You could try changing the color space to Profoto and back?

Cheers,
Bernard