Author: Jessica Maldonado

If you’ve been around the Photoshop world for even a short time, it’s likely that you’ve heard the term “nondestructive,” as in “nondestructive workflow” or “working nondestructively.” In principle, this means to do things in a way where the result isn’t permanent (a.k.a. destructive) and can be edited later in various ways.

Some people tell me that they never change their minds, and that’s why they don’t worry about using these methods, while others ask why they should bother working this way. There are some very important reasons to consider using nondestructive techniques, well beyond changing your mind. We’ll look at those first, followed by some key techniques for working nondestructively.