Photoshop
Filters and Special Effects
The Filter Menu
The filters in the Filter menu are easy to use and provide a wide number of effects for any image. We will go through the filter categories and discuss the kinds of effects each set will produce. We'll also cover two commands that can be used after a filter is applied: Last Filter and Fade.
Before Applying a Filter
Your first consideration is to make sure that your image is in RGB colour mode. Working in a greyscale, CMYK or another colour mode will limit and sometime take away the filters altogether. This is because to work properly, (most) filters need to be in a high colour bit, typically between 24-bit and 32-bit.
Filters affect only the active layer and any layer styles applied to it. If there is a selection on the layer, the filter effect will be confined to the selected portion of the layer. You can apply filters to adjustment layers too.
Filters can be applied to an alpha channel to create a modified version of the channel that can be loaded as a selection. They can also be used on masks and quick masks.
Filter Dialogs
Not all filters have dialogs but most do. They contains settings you can adjust to customize the effect. The dialogs all have a preview window in which you can view the effect. Some dialogs have a Preview option that allows you to preview the effect in the image itself. For those that don't, the preview window is your only guide.
You can drag inside the preview window to shift the image preview to areas you want to inspect. There are zoom buttons under the window to include more or less of the image in the preview.
Filter Menu Categories
When you access the Filter menu, filter categories are listed. Individual filters are selected from the category submenus.
The filters categories are described below:
- Artistic
- These filters provide a wide variety of effects that make an image look as though it was painted or hand-drawn.
- Blur
- The Blur filters apply effects from an out-of-focus look to a motion effect. An upcoming lecture will describe all of the blur filters.
- Brush Strokes
- The filters in this menu will change an image to simulate wet-brushed or other painting styles.
- Distort
- These filters will distort your image into swirls, waves and zigzags.
- Noise
- The Noise filters will apply a series of speckled pixels to your image, or remove dust and scratches from an image.
- Pixelate
- The Pixelate filters separate colours into distinctive patterns of pixels.
- Render
- The Render filters will apply specialized Photoshop effects, like changing an image into clouds, converting objects into 3D, and creating lighting effects.
- Sharpen
- Sharpen filters are using for - you guessed it - sharpening images. It is more of a utility filter than a special effects filter. Because this is something you may need to do frequently, the next lecture addresses the four Sharpen filters to get you on the right track.
- Sketch
- Sketch is similar to the Brush Strokes category except it applies a pen, pencil or charcoal stroke to the image. With the exception of the Chrome and Water Paper filters, the rest of the Sketch filters will use the foreground and background colours. If you'd rather apply effects using colours from your image, sample colours with the Eyedropper tool to set the foreground and background colours.
- Stylize
- These filters create an embossed or diffused look, apply 3D textures, and manipulate colour in the image with negative and positive effects.
- Texture
- The Texture filters apply a series of different textures to an image.
- Video
- These filters change colours and manipulate images that will end up in a video production environment.
- Other
- Here you can create a custom filter, custom dithering for a specific colour (or colours), move selections and modify masks.
Plug-in Filters
In addition to the filters that come with Photoshop, there are third-party companies that produce specialty filters for Photoshop. Specialty filters include things like fire on text, water, glass, and smoke effects.
Third-party filters are called plug-in filters. When installed, these filters will appear at the bottom of the Filter menu.
There are many companies that sell plug-in filters supported by Photoshop. Here are two common ones:
Smart Filters (Photoshop CS3 only)
Smart filters were introduced with Photoshop CS3. They allow for something previously unheard of in Photoshop: non-destructive filters. Normally filters can only be applied to rasterized layers, and they permanently alter the pixels of the layer. With Smart Filters, the editability of the original layer remains intact. Vector based objects such as text and vector shapes no longer need to be rasterized before applying a filter. To accomplish this magic, the layer must first be converted to a smart object. Once this is done, the filter can be applied to the smart object in the form of a smart filter. To use a smart filter:
- Select the layer you wish to apply the smart filter to.
- Go to Filter > Convert for Smart Filters.
The smart filter is then added as layer indented below the original layer and is named, appropriately enough, Smart Filters. Your actual filter is indented further below this, and can be hidden to temporarily disable it, or double-clicked to change the filter itself. Any other filters you add to the layer will be added underneath the Smart Filters layer. You can even change the order of the filters on the fly; something that was not possible with normal filters.
Filter-Related Commands
There are two commands that can be used after you've applied a filter effect. They work with built-in or plug-in filters.
Last Filter
Look under the Filter menu and notice the first option down: Last Filter or Ctrl-F (Cmd-F). It will be greyed out. After a filter has been applied, this option will change to the name of the last filter used; for example, Add Noise. Photoshop's filters have dramatic effects when applied once to an image and sometimes even more dramatic when applied multiple times. Last Filter allows you to re-apply the last filter that was run again and again. Another use is in applying the same filter to additional layers or other images. This can be helpful when performing repetitive tasks in Photoshop.
Fade
Once you've applied a filter, you can use the Edit > Fade command to modify the effect that the filter has had. The keyboard shortcut is Shift-Ctrl-F (Shift-Cmd-F) to open the Fade dialog. You must use this option before doing any more editing in your image.
You can select a blending mode from the Mode menu and adjust the Opacity either by using the slider control or entering a value into the text entry field. As you reduce the Opacity value, you will see the pre-filtered version of your image being restored. With the Preview check box enabled, you can see the changes being applied to your image.
Practice Exercise: Experimenting with Filters
The best way to familiarize yourself with Photoshop's built-in filters is to select an image and run a number of filters on it, noting what changes each filter applies. You may want to use different images when playing with the filters in Photoshop, as different filters can have very different effects on different types of images (e.g., photos of people, logos).
Spend a little time now with the art_history.psd image open (or your favourite image). Try out different filters. After you've applied one, undo the filter before applying the next. This will give you a good idea of what the filters can do. You may also want to try the Fade command in the Edit menu to see how that works.
The Filter Menu Summary
- All filters will be available when working in RGB colour mode. In other modes, some or all of the filters may be greyed out.
- A filter effect is applied to the active layer or to a selection on that layer.
- Filters can be applied to alpha channels and quick masks.
- Plug-in filters are third-party filters that work in Photoshop.
- The Last Filter and Fade commands are used after a filter has been applied.
- Last Filter will apply the most recently used filter to the same layer, another layer or another image.
- The Fade command will let you reduce the opacity of the effect and/or assign a blending mode to it.
The Filter Menu Keyboard Shortcuts:
- Last Filter: Ctrl-F (Cmd-F)
- Fade <Filter>: Shift-Ctrl-F (Shift-Cmd-F)
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