- Close the smart object and save your changes. Close the Smart
Object.psb file by clicking the box in the title bar ( on the
Mac). Then click the Yes (or Save) button to update the smart
object and return to the Soft portrait.jpg composition. - Move the Median filter from Dummy to Smart Object. Again
in the Layers panel, drag the Median entry from the Dummy
layer to the thumbnail for the Smart Object layer. Click the ▼
to the right of the icon for the Smart Object layer to expand
the layer and reveal the smart filter items, which include Median
and an empty filter mask, as shown in Figure 7-37. - Throw the Dummy layer away. You don’t need it anymore.
Nuke it with impunity.
Next, I want to expand the shadows and downplay the high-
lights a bit using the Shadows/Highlights command. Naturally,
we want to apply the command as a nondestructive edit. Unfor-
tunately, Shadows/Highlights isn’t available as an adjustment
layer. Why not? Because even though Shadows/Highlights is
organized with the color commands, it’s actually a filter. For-
tunately, you can now apply the command non destructively
as a smart filter. - Apply the fourth filter, Shadows/Highlights. Choose Image→
Adjustments to reveal the filter disguised as a color adjustment
function, Shadows/Highlights. Choose it to display the Shad-
ows/Highlights dialog box. Make sure the Show More Options
check box is turned on, and then do the following:
- Press the Alt key (Option on the Mac) and click what is
now the Reset button (formerly Cancel) to restore the de-
fault settings. - In the Shadows section, set the Amount value to 5 percent.
Then set the Tonal Width and Radius values to 50 percent
and 100 pixels, respectively. - For Highlights, take the Amount value slightly higher, to
15 percent. Again set Tonal Width and Radius to 50 per-
cent and 100 pixels. - Leave the other values set to their defaults, which include
+20 for Color Correction, 0 for Midtone Contrast, and 0.01
for the Clip values.
All settings appear in Figure 7-38. Assuming that you’ve entered
everything correctly, click the OK button.
Figure 7-37.Figure 7-38.Nondestructively Editing a Photo with Smart Filters 249