How to use filters in Adobe Photoshop

How to use filters in Adobe Photoshop

Photoshop filters are used to modify images and selections to create effects, repair images, and move pixels. You can turn photos into graphics and paintings, repair images, define or obscure things, add texture, and convert images for specialized uses. To learn how, follow the instructions in the section below.

Tip This article refers to the image filters that come with Adobe Photoshop CC, desktop version. However, some filters are also in the mobile version.

How to use an Adobe Photoshop filter

Open Adobe Photoshop. Open your image file.

Select the layer, like a smart object, layer, or layer mask, you want to affect.

Click Window in the menu bar and select Layers to open the Layers panel, if not already open. Click the layer name (or layer mask if you want to affect that). This highlights the small preview window with a white box to indicate the layer is selected.

(Optional) Select the pixels you want affected using any of the Selection tools, including Marquee, Lasso, Object Selection Tool, Quick Selection Tool, Magic Wand Tool, and Pen Tool.

Select Filter from the menu bar.

Navigate to your desired filter and click it. If an options window appears, adjust the settings, and click OK.

Note Filters with options have an ellipsis (...) after their name.

Tip If you don't like the results of the filter and you want to undo it, click the Edit menu and select Undo. Or, press the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Z (or Command + Z on a Mac). Then, go back to step 5 to apply a new filter or apply the same filter with different options.

How to Use the Lasso Tool in Photoshop

What is the Lasso Tool?

The Lasso tool is probably one of the most aptly named objects in your Photoshop arsenal. Just like a cowboy uses a lasso to round up cattle, you can use your digital lasso to capture any precise shapes that you want to isolate in your image. Sometimes the Marquee tool just doesn’t cut it, so the Lasso tool is great for selecting irregular shapes that have protrusions and extrusions or just odd curvatures. There are actually three lassos to choose from: the original Lasso, the Polygonal Lasso, and the Magnetic Lasso.

Why Do You Need a Lasso?

The Lasso tool is helpful for drawing a free-form border around a selected object within an image. It allows you to soften the edges of your selection or add a feathering effect; it’s also useful for anti-aliasing. You can remove the selection you make with the tool, which comes in handy when you’re trying to remove a specific person or object from an image.

Uses for the Lasso

The Lasso tool is the original freehand selection tool in Photoshop. Whereas the Marquee tool is ideal for selecting circles and rectangles, and the Magic Wand tool is perfect for selecting color ranges, the Lasso tool is your go-to function when you need to outline irregular shapes. If your desired selection consists mostly of straight lines (for instance, a parallelogram), you can use the Polygonal Lasso to create a path across each line. If you have a difficult shape with a lot of curves, you can use the Magnetic Lasso to automatically cling to the outline of your intended selection.

If at First You Don’t Succeed…

One of the useful features of this tool is that it allows you to adjust your selection shape for added accuracy. For instance, if you are making a selection within an object but notice that the tracing is a bit imperfect, you can fix the mistakes by zooming in and redrawing the lines. You have the capability to add to and subtract from your selection to ensure that the shape of your selection perfectly matches the object you’re altering.

Make the Most of Your Lasso

Making selections is just the beginning. Once you have your perfect outline, you can drag your selection to another part of your document or to another document entirely. You can also:

Feather your edges

Add a border

Apply a filter from Photoshop’s Filter Gallery

If you want to preserve your selected object and instead edit everything around it, you can invert your selection with a single menu command. This will flip your selection so that it covers everything outside of your chosen object, leaving the object intact as you edit the scenery around it.

Check out our video to learn more helpful hints and tips for using the Lasso tool.

LibGuides at The Westport Library

What is Photoshop?

Adobe Photoshop is software that is extensively used for raster image editing, graphic design and digital art. It makes use of layering to allow for depth and flexibility in the design and editing process, as well as provide powerful editing tools, that when combined, are capable of just about anything.

It was created by brothers Thomas and John Knoll in 1988. In 1989, John sold the program to Adobe Systems, which marketed it as “Photoshop.” Since then, the program has become the de facto industry standard for raster graphics editing. It is published for both macOS and Windows, but not Linux.

Photoshop is specifically designed to allow users to create and edit raster images in multiple layers. These overlays or layers can support transparency and can also act as masks or filters that can alter underlying images in the layers below them. Shadows and other effects such as alpha compositing can be applied. (Continue reading from Techopedia)