What is the use of Filters in Photoshop

When someone learns the Photoshop in an institute then he or she always wish to learn an option with eager i.e. filters in Photoshop. Most of us have a great excitement too for the filters in Photoshop to learn. Depending on which filters you apply and which settings you choose, the results can range from a subtle change to a total morph. You can make an image look (almost) as if it is hand painted, silk-screened, or sketched, distorted, patterned, textured, or noised. The creative possibilities are infinite. Start using the Filter Gallery; you’ll see ... time will fly by.

For applying filters, including using the Filter Gallery and Smart Filters, and use filters to make a photo look like an oil painting or tinted drawing.

A small handful of them, such as Clouds and Blur, are apply in one step simply by choosing the filter name from a sub-menu on the Filter menu. If apply a filter to a Smart Object, it becomes an editable, removable Smart Filter.

The current document color mode or bit depth. All the Photoshop filters are available for RGB files, most of the filters are available for Gray-scale files, fewer are available for CMYK Color, Lab Color, and 16-bits-per-channel files, still fewer are available for 32-bits-per-channel files, and none are available for Bitmap and Indexed Color files.

To use the Filter Gallery

1. Click an image layer; or for more flexibility, click a duplicate image layer or a Smart Object.
2. Optional: To limit the filter to a specific area of the image, create a selection.
3. The Foreground and/or Background colors are used by many filters and you must choose those colors now, before opening the Filter Gallery.
4. Choose Filter from Filter Gallery. The resizable gallery opens. 
5. To change the zoom level for the preview, click the Zoom Out button (Ctrl - ) or Zoom In button (Ctrl +) in the lower-left corner of the dialog, or choose a preset zoom level from the menu.  
6. In the middle pane of the dialog, click an arrowhead to expand any of the six filter categories, and then click a filter thumbnail.
7. Choose a filter name from the menu below the Cancel button.
8. On the right side of the dialog, choose settings for the filter. 
9. To edit the list of effects (bottom right portion of the dialog), do any of these optional steps: 
10. To apply an additional filter effect, click the New Effect Layer button, click a filter thumbnail in any category, and then choose settings. The effect may take a moment or two to process.
11. To replace one filter effect with another, click a filter effect name on the scroll list (don’t click the New Effect Layer button), then choose a replacement filter and settings.
12. To hide a filter effect, click the visibility icon next to the effect name (click again to re-display).
13. To change the stacking position of a filter effect to produce a different result in the image, drag the effect name upward or downward on the list.
14. To remove a filter effect from the list, click it, then click the Delete Effect Layer button.
15. Click OK.

Creating and editing Smart Filters

When apply a filter to a Smart Object, it becomes what is called a Smart Filter. We can edit or remove a Smart Filter at any time, apply multiple filters to the same Smart Object, hide individual filters while keeping others visible, and move or copy filters from one Smart Object to another. We can also edit the filter mask, change the stacking order of the filters, and edit the Smart Object itself.

The file formats that support Photoshop layers—such as PSD, PDF, and TIFF—also support Smart Filters. Some third-party (non-Adobe) filters can also be applied as Smart Filters.

To apply a Smart Filter

Click an image layer, then choose Filter > Convert for Smart Filters (or right-click the layer and choose Convert to Smart Object). If an alert appears, click OK.

Optional: Create a selection to control which area of the image the filter affects. Apply a filter Smart Filters listing, mask thumbnail, and filter listing will appear on the Layers panel.

The most significant advantage to using Smart Filters is that you can edit the filter settings at any time.

Working with the Smart Filter mask

When apply a filter to a Smart Object, a filter mask appears on the layer automatically. If create a selection before applying the first filter to a Smart Object, the selection will appear as the white area in the mask. A filter mask can also be edited using the same methods as for a layer mask. For an illustration of how this works, see the next two pages.

To edit a filter mask

1. Click the filter mask thumbnail.
2. Do either of the following: 

        Click the Brush tool, and then apply strokes with black to hide the filter effect, or with      white to reveal areas you've hidden. For a partial mask, use black and lower the tool opacity. To hide the filter effect gradually from one side of the image to the other, click the Gradient tool, and then drag across the image..

• To display the filter mask by itself in the document, Alt-click/Option-click the mask; repeat to re-display the full Smart Object.
• To soften the transition between black and white areas in a filter mask, click the filter mask thumbnail, then on the Properties panel, adjust the Feather value. To control the overall opacity of the mask, use the Density slider.

Filters are most fascinating thing among the designers who use Adobe Photoshop. Now filters are editable after you apply them on any of the layer. I remember till Photoshop 7 they were not editable meaning once you applied you couldn't delete or edit them. There are a plenty of third party filters available to be used by designers too.

ADMEC Multimedia Institute provides photo editing courses online Delhi. Students can also join Online Computer Classes.