Filters Basics

Filter

A special effect applied to a image.

Filters are a feature of Photoshop that gives it such power. No longer are you limited to what you can draw, paint, or import from a digital camera. You now can do RADICAL things to your images and create works of art that seem like MAGIC.

Filters can do a wide variety of things. Some simply add a slight film grain, or remove dust from a photo. Others filters can give a photo the look of an oil painting or a colored pencil drawing. Still more powerful filters can run your images through a meat grinder, wrap it in plastic wrap, or press it into wet sand.

Filter Categories

Artistic- Painterly or artistic effects; Cutout, Fresco, Plastic Wrap

Blur- softens a selection, for retouching

Brush Strokes- Creates a variety of painting effects; Angled Strokes, Splatter, Sui-e

Distort- Geometrically distorts an image; Glass, Ocean Ripple, Pinch

Sketch- add or remove noise, dust or scratches; Despeckle, Dust and Scratches, Reduce Noise

Pixelate- breaks the image down into little dots or cells; Facet, Mosaic, Pointillize

Render- creates clouds, light effects; Clouds, Difference Clouds, Lens Flare

Sharpen- focuses blurred images; Sharpen, Sharpen More

Sketch- Adds texture to an image as if drawn in a different medium; Charcoal, Conte, Chrome

Stylize- Produces radical effects that extremely effect the image; Emboss, Extrude, Find Edges, Glowing Edges.

Texture- Gives the appearance of depth or substance, Craquelure, Patchwork, Texturizer

Filters are powerful but are also tricky. You have to learn what they all do, how much is enough and when you have gone too far. Today we will start to explore filters and their limitless possibilities. Look at the magazine cover below. It was made in Photoshop. You too will create a stylish magazine cover using a photo altered by filters.

Apply a filter

1- Choose the area you want to apply the filter to:

• To apply a filter to a portion of a layer, use either the Wand or Lasso tool to select the desired area.

• To apply a filter to an entire layer, deselect any selected areas (Command+D), and then select the layer in the Layers palette.

2- Choose how to apply the filter:

• To use the Filter gallery, choose Filter>Filter Gallery, select a category, and click the filter you want to apply.

• To use the Filter menu, choose Filter, then choose a submenu followed by the filter you want to apply. If a filter name is followed by ellipses (…), a Filter Options dialog box appears.

3- If a dialog box appears, enter values or select options. This is an area where you can play around with the numbers to achieve a variety of different effects.

4- If available, select the Preview option to see what the filter will look like before you apply it.

5- Depending on the filter and how you are applying it, use one of the following methods to preview the filter:

• Use the + button or - button under the preview window to zoom in or zoom out.

• Click the zoom bar (where the zoom percentage appears) to choose a zoom percentage.

• Click-drag within the preview window to center a specific area of the image in the window.

HINT: If the dialog box contains sliders, hold down Alt while dragging a slider to see a real-time preview (real-time rendering).

Note: A blinking line beneath the preview size indicates that the preview is being rendered.

6- When you are satisfied with the results, click OK.

7- Remember to save your work as a JPG when complete.

8- Submit finished work to the blog. Name the entry name_filterbasics