Amateur Photographer - UK (2019-06-21)

34 15 June 2019I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.ukI subscribe 0330 333 1113

USEFUL TOOLS IN CAMERA RAW

Filterasinglelayer
If allyouwanttodois filtera single-pixelimage
layerelementin animage,youcansimply
selectthatlayerandchooseCameraRawFilter
fromtheFiltermenu,justasyouwouldif
applyinganyothertypeof Photoshopfilter.If
youwantthefiltereffecttothatlayertobe
reversible,then choose ‘Convert for Smart
Filters’ fi rst.

B&Wconversiontool

CameraRawarguablyoffersmore

sophisticatedwaystoconverttoblack& white

comparedtoPhotoshop.Insteadof addinga

Black& Whiteadjustmentlayertothetopof a

layerstack,youcangroupalltheimagelayers

intoa SmartObject,applytheCameraRaw

filterandthenselectfromthemanyblack&

white conversion options in Camera Raw.

Filterindividualchannels

YoucanapplytheCameraRawfilterto

individualchannels.Forexample,youcanfilter

theluminositychannelwhenworkingwithan

imagethatis in LabColourmode.Oryoucan

useCameraRawtorefinethelookof a mask

channel.However,in thismodeof operation,

certainfeaturessuchasper-channelcurves

and Split Tone controls will be disabled.

Technique CAMERA RAW FOR FILTERS

THECAMERARawFilteris not
restrictedtosinglelayers.Youcan
applytheCameraRawfiltertoas
manylayersasyoulike.Todo
thistheymustfirstbegrouped
togetherwithina SmartObject/
SmartFilter.
Intheexampleshownhere,I
groupedtogetherallthelayers
thatwereusedtocreatetheneon
signeffect,andmergedtheseinto
a SmartObjectthatcouldthen
befilteredusingtheCameraRaw
filter(theeasiestwaytodothis
is tochooseFilter>Convertfor
SmartFilters.Oncemergedasa
SmartObject,it is easytoexpand
theselayersagainbydouble-
clickingtheSmartObjectlayer
torevealthenestedlayers,all
appearingwithina separate, new
image document.

1

Hereis a layered

imagephotograph

thathadbeenedited

in Photoshop.Forthe

nextstepI ensured

allthevisiblelayers

wereselectedand

choseFilter>Convert

forSmartFilters.

Thiscreateda Smart

Objectlayerthat

containedallthe

selectedlayers,

enablingmetomove

onto the next step.

2

Ithenselectedthe

CameraRawFilter,

whichwasappliedto

a compositeof allthe

layerscontainedwithin

theSmartObject.

Here,I adjusted

theWhiteBalance

ExposureandClarity

tomaketheneonsign

appearwarmerin

colour.OnceI clicked

OK,theseadjustments

wereappliedtothe

Smart Object layer.

How tofi lter multiple layers