Photoshop Cs5 Digital classroom split

296

Creating a composition using Smart Objects

Adobe Photoshop CS5 Digital Classroom

10

Modifying a Smart Filter

Once you add a Smart Filter, you can go back and modify the eff ect, even if you’ve added a

mask, as in this case.

1 In the Butterfl y 4 layer, double-click on the Motion Blur eff ect; the Motion Blur

dialog box appears. You may have to click and drag down and to the left inside the fi lter

preview window to see the image. Change the angle to 87 degrees by clicking and

dragging the dial to the right. Press OK when you are done.

Changing the angle of the motion blur now requires you to go back with the paintbrush

and modify the mask.

2 Click on the layer mask thumbnail to the left of Smart Filters to activate it. Then begin

to paint from the top down, leaving just a blur at the bottom of the butterfl y. If you mask

out too much of the eff ect, you can press X to switch to white as the foreground color

to restore the eff ect in the desired areas.

3 Click on the eye icon ( ) next to the Smart Filter mask. This turns the mask off

completely, and can help identify areas aff ected by a fi lter that you may have missed.

Click to turn the mask back on and clean up any areas where you don’t want the

fi lter applied.

Turn off the eff ects of the mask by selecting

the eye icon.

4 In the Layers panel, click on the eye icon to the left of the Visit the Rainforests type

layer on the top. Select the Move tool, and then click and drag to reposition the layers

as needed.

PSCS5.indb 296 4/8/2010 5:14:16 PM

Self study

Lesson 10, Getting Smart in Photoshop 297

10

5 Choose File > Save. Congratulations! You have fi nished this part of the lesson.

The completed lesson fi le.

Self study

In this section, you can complete some exercises on your own. Use adjustment layers to adjust

the brightness, contrast, hue, and saturation of the lesson fi les.

Currently, the individual butterfl y and bird images do not blend as well into the background

as they could. Using the techniques laid out in “Editing the contents of a Smart Object,” add

adjustment layers to the objects in the photo-illustration, and fi ne-tune the appearance of the

individual objects. Try to make the individual layers match each other as much as possible to

create a cohesive photo illustration.

Creating multiple Smart Objects

In this lesson, you learned how to work with Smart Objects in their various forms. Create

additional copies of the butterfl y or bird images, and experiment with creating a collage.

Apply fi lters to your existing Smart Objects. For diff erent eff ects, try applying a black-to-white

gradient on a Smart Filter mask to achieve a smooth transition that would be diffi cult to achieve

using just the Brush tool alone.

Working with Illustrator fi les

If you have Adobe Illustrator, you can also place .ai fi les into Photoshop fi les as Smart Object

layers. They work in similar ways. Create an image in Illustrator, and place it into Photoshop.

Create multiple copies of the Illustrator layer, and then modify the original .ai fi le to see the

changes applied to the layers in the Photoshop fi le.

PSCS5.indb 297 4/8/2010 5:14:16 PM

298

Review

Adobe Photoshop CS5 Digital Classroom

10

Review

Questions

1 What are three ways that you can create a Smart Object layer?

2 Why would you convert a standard layer to a Smart Object layer?

3 How do you replace the contents of a Smart Object layer? When would you do so?

4 What are Smart Filters, and what are the benefi ts of using them?

Answers

1 You can bring an image into an existing fi le as a Smart Object by choosing File > Open

as Smart Object and selecting the fi le, choosing File > Place, or, when using Adobe

Bridge, selecting the fi le and choosing File > Place > Into Photoshop. If an image is

currently inside a document and you would like to convert it to a Smart Object, select

the layer in the Layers panel and choose Layer > Smart Objects > Convert to Smart

Objects.

2 A Smart Object layer can be resized indefi nitely without losing resolution due to

resampling.

3 You can replace the contents of a Smart Object layer by choosing Layer > Smart

Objects > Replace Contents.You might use this technique if you wanted to replace one

image with another without losing any scaling, rotating or warping you had created for

the image.

4 Any fi lter applied to a Smart Object is a Smart Filter. Smart Filters appear in the Layers

panel below the Smart Object layer to which they are applied. Because you can adjust,

remove, or hide Smart Filters, they are non-destructive.

PSCS5.indb 298 4/8/2010 5:14:17 PM