Expert: xxxxxx no longer want to volunteer - 10/11/2011

Question
Hello sir! Scenario: I am working on editing a photo and have it saved as a PSD.  I make a selection with the lasso tool for whatever purposes of my subject, save that selection for future use (working with various texture layers).  When done with all my editing, I save the file as a TIFF, unchecking the box "layers" so it just flattens the image.  What I get is a tiff of only the area that I had much earlier selected (typically the subject of the portrait) and the rest of the file around it is white.  I have tried flattening the file first; I made sure that I "deselected" the selection when done editing with it; I've saved the PSD file, exited out of CS5 altogether, re-opened the PSD file, then tried to "save as" TIFF and I get the same problem...it only saves the area that I had earlier selected.  For some reason, no matter what I do, photoshop is only remembering that origonal selected area that I drew out of my subject to isolate it so I could play with the surrounding texture I layed on. I could come back to the file a year later, and still have the same problem.  I have spent hours trying various work arounds.  My goal is to save a nice uncompressed copy of the file so that if I want to try some other stuff to the finished product later I don't have to go into the PSD file and screw it up, and it has more data to work with than the JPG I saved. If I haven't made any selections with the lasso tool during editing, I do not have this issue.

I am happy to post/email and example of what I am talking about if you like (could put it on my facebook photography page for example).

Thank you in advance for your time in helping me.

Answer
If I take my lasso tool & make a selection to make an adjustment & then deselect it, that selection won't be saved no matter what kind of format I'm using: tiff or psd. Unless I save the selection in some way such as in a channel -before- deselecting.

If you're wanting to save an uncompressed file to work on later I prefer saving files as a PSD. You can make back-up a copy(s) if you're worried about messing up a PSD file.

Everyone uses different techniques, I prefer working with PSD files vs tiff's especially if its an image I might want to make changes later on. That way, using adjustment layers, I can come back anytime to re-edit.