ABSTRACT
While an image is open in Photoshop, it can be manipulated without being limited by the range of features supported in the original source format. If you open an EPS format image in Photoshop and simply adjust the levels and save it, Photoshop will overwrite the original. But you can also edit the same EPS image in Photoshop, adding features such as layers or adjustment layers. When you come to save, you will be shown the Save dialog shown in Figure 7.1. This reminds you that the file contains features that are not supported by the EPS file format and alerts you to the fact that if you click Save now, not all the components in the image (i.e. layers) will
be fully saved. This is because while you can save the file as an EPS, the EPS format does not support layers and the document will therefore be saved in a flattened state. If I were to select the native Photoshop file format and check the Layers box, then it will become possible for me to now save this version of the image in the native Photoshop format and preserve the layer features. Only the Photoshop, PDF and TIFF formats are capable of supporting all the Photoshop features such as vector masks and image adjustment layers. Saving in the native Photoshop format should result in a more compact file size, except when you save a layered Photoshop file with the Maximize Backward Compatibility checked in the preferences. Figure 7.18 at the end of this chapter contains a summary of file format compatibility with the various Photoshop features.
