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  1. Photoshop User Guide
  2. Introduction to Photoshop
    1. Dream it. Make it.
    2. What's new in Photoshop
    3. Edit your first photo
    4. Create documents
    5. Photoshop | Common Questions
    6. Photoshop system requirements
    7. Migrate presets, actions, and settings
    8. Get to know Photoshop
  3. Photoshop and other Adobe products and services
    1. Work with Illustrator artwork in Photoshop
    2. Work with Photoshop files in InDesign
    3. Substance 3D Materials for Photoshop
    4. Photoshop and Adobe Stock
    5. Use the Capture in-app extension in Photoshop
    6. Creative Cloud Libraries
    7. Creative Cloud Libraries in Photoshop
    8. Use the Touch Bar with Photoshop
    9. Grid and guides
    10. Creating actions
    11. Undo and history
  4. Photoshop on the iPad
    1. Photoshop on the iPad | Common questions
    2. Get to know the workspace
    3. System requirements | Photoshop on the iPad
    4. Create, open, and export documents
    5. Add photos
    6. Work with layers
    7. Draw and paint with brushes
    8. Make selections and add masks
    9. Retouch your composites
    10. Work with adjustment layers
    11. Adjust the tonality of your composite with Curves
    12. Apply transform operations
    13. Crop and rotate your composites
    14. Rotate, pan, zoom, and reset the canvas
    15. Work with Type layers
    16. Work with Photoshop and Lightroom
    17. Get missing fonts in Photoshop on the iPad
    18. Japanese Text in Photoshop on the iPad
    19. Manage app settings
    20. Touch shortcuts and gestures
    21. Keyboard shortcuts
    22. Edit your image size
    23. Livestream as you create in Photoshop on the iPad
    24. Correct imperfections with the Healing Brush
    25. Create brushes in Capture and use them in Photoshop
    26. Work with Camera Raw files
    27. Create and work with Smart Objects
    28. Adjust exposure in your images with Dodge and Burn
  5. Photoshop on the web beta
    1. Common questions | Photoshop on the web beta 
    2. Introduction to the workspace
    3. System requirements | Photoshop on the web beta
    4. Keyboard shortcuts | Photoshop on the web beta
    5. Supported file types | Photoshop on the web beta
    6. Open and work with cloud documents
    7. Collaborate with stakeholders
    8. Apply limited edits to your cloud documents
  6. Cloud documents
    1. Photoshop cloud documents | Common questions
    2. Photoshop cloud documents | Workflow questions
    3. Manage and work with cloud documents in Photoshop
    4. Upgrade cloud storage for Photoshop
    5. Unable to create or save a cloud document
    6. Solve Photoshop cloud document errors
    7. Collect cloud document sync logs
    8. Share access and edit your cloud documents
    9. Share files and comment in-app
  7. Workspace
    1. Workspace basics
    2. Learn faster with the Photoshop Discover Panel
    3. Create documents
    4. Use the Touch Bar with Photoshop
    5. Tool galleries
    6. Performance preferences
    7. Use tools
    8. Touch gestures
    9. Touch capabilities and customizable workspaces
    10. Technology previews
    11. Metadata and notes
    12. Default keyboard shortcuts
    13. Touch capabilities and customizable workspaces
    14. Place Photoshop images in other applications
    15. Preferences
    16. Default keyboard shortcuts
    17. Rulers
    18. Show or hide non-printing Extras
    19. Specify columns for an image
    20. Undo and history
    21. Panels and menus
    22. Place files
    23. Position elements with snapping
    24. Position with the Ruler tool
    25. Presets
    26. Customize keyboard shortcuts
    27. Grid and guides
  8. Web, screen, and app design
    1. Photoshop for design
    2. Artboards
    3. Device Preview
    4. Copy CSS from layers
    5. Slice web pages
    6. HTML options for slices
    7. Modify slice layout
    8. Work with web graphics
    9. Create web photo galleries
  9. Image and color basics
    1. How to resize images
    2. Work with raster and vector images
    3. Image size and resolution
    4. Acquire images from cameras and scanners
    5. Create, open, and import images
    6. View images
    7. Invalid JPEG Marker error | Opening images
    8. Viewing multiple images
    9. Customize color pickers and swatches
    10. High dynamic range images
    11. Match colors in your image
    12. Convert between color modes
    13. Color modes
    14. Erase parts of an image
    15. Blending modes
    16. Choose colors
    17. Customize indexed color tables
    18. Image information
    19. Distort filters are unavailable
    20. About color
    21. Color and monochrome adjustments using channels
    22. Choose colors in the Color and Swatches panels
    23. Sample
    24. Color mode or Image mode
    25. Color cast
    26. Add a conditional mode change to an action
    27. Add swatches from HTML CSS and SVG
    28. Bit depth and preferences
  10. Layers
    1. Layer basics
    2. Nondestructive editing
    3. Create and manage layers and groups
    4. Select, group, and link layers
    5. Place images into frames
    6. Layer opacity and blending
    7. Mask layers
    8. Apply Smart Filters
    9. Layer comps
    10. Move, stack, and lock layers
    11. Mask layers with vector masks
    12. Manage layers and groups
    13. Layer effects and styles
    14. Edit layer masks
    15. Extract assets
    16. Reveal layers with clipping masks
    17. Generate image assets from layers
    18. Work with Smart Objects
    19. Blending modes
    20. Combine multiple images into a group portrait
    21. Combine images with Auto-Blend Layers
    22. Align and distribute layers
    23. Copy CSS from layers
    24. Load selections from a layer or layer mask's boundaries
    25. Knockout to reveal content from other layers
    26. Layer
    27. Flattening
    28. Composite
    29. Background
  11. Selections
    1. Select and Mask workspace
    2. Make quick selections
    3. Get started with selections
    4. Select with the marquee tools
    5. Select with the lasso tools
    6. Select a color range in an image
    7. Adjust pixel selections
    8. Convert between paths and selection borders
    9. Channel basics
    10. Move, copy, and delete selected pixels
    11. Create a temporary quick mask
    12. Save selections and alpha channel masks
    13. Select the image areas in focus
    14. Duplicate, split, and merge channels
    15. Channel calculations
    16. Selection
    17. Bounding box
  12. Image adjustments
    1. Perspective warp
    2. Reduce camera shake blurring
    3. Healing brush examples
    4. Export color lookup tables
    5. Adjust image sharpness and blur
    6. Understand color adjustments
    7. Apply a Brightness/Contrast adjustment
    8. Adjust shadow and highlight detail
    9. Levels adjustment
    10. Adjust hue and saturation
    11. Adjust vibrance
    12. Adjust color saturation in image areas
    13. Make quick tonal adjustments
    14. Apply special color effects to images
    15. Enhance your image with color balance adjustments
    16. High dynamic range images
    17. View histograms and pixel values
    18. Match colors in your image
    19. How to crop and straighten photos
    20. Convert a color image to black and white
    21. Adjustment and fill layers
    22. Curves adjustment
    23. Blending modes
    24. Target images for press
    25. Adjust color and tone with Levels and Curves eyedroppers
    26. Adjust HDR exposure and toning
    27. Filter
    28. Blur
    29. Dodge or burn image areas
    30. Make selective color adjustments
    31. Replace object colors
  13. Adobe Camera Raw
    1. Camera Raw system requirements
    2. What's new in Camera Raw
    3. Introduction to Camera Raw
    4. Create panoramas
    5. Supported lenses
    6. Vignette, grain, and dehaze effects in Camera Raw
    7. Default keyboard shortcuts
    8. Automatic perspective correction in Camera Raw
    9. How to make non-destructive edits in Camera Raw
    10. Radial Filter in Camera Raw
    11. Manage Camera Raw settings
    12. Open, process, and save images in Camera Raw
    13. Repair images with the Enhanced Spot Removal tool in Camera Raw
    14. Rotate, crop, and adjust images
    15. Adjust color rendering in Camera Raw
    16. Feature summary | Adobe Camera Raw | 2018 releases
    17. New features summary
    18. Process versions in Camera Raw
    19. Make local adjustments in Camera Raw
  14. Image repair and restoration
    1. Remove objects from your photos with Content-Aware Fill
    2. Content-Aware Patch and Move
    3. Retouch and repair photos
    4. Correct image distortion and noise
    5. Basic troubleshooting steps to fix most issues
  15. Image transformations
    1. Transform objects
    2. Adjust crop, rotation, and canvas size
    3. How to crop and straighten photos
    4. Create and edit panoramic images
    5. Warp images, shapes, and paths
    6. Vanishing Point
    7. Use the Liquify filter
    8. Content-aware scaling
    9. Transform images, shapes, and paths
    10. Warp
    11. Transform
    12. Panorama
  16. Drawing and painting
    1. Paint symmetrical patterns
    2. Draw rectangles and modify stroke options
    3. About drawing
    4. Draw and edit shapes
    5. Painting tools
    6. Create and modify brushes
    7. Blending modes
    8. Add color to paths
    9. Edit paths
    10. Paint with the Mixer Brush
    11. Brush presets
    12. Gradients
    13. Gradient interpolation
    14. Fill and stroke selections, layers, and paths
    15. Draw with the Pen tools
    16. Create patterns
    17. Generate a pattern using the Pattern Maker
    18. Manage paths
    19. Manage pattern libraries and presets
    20. Draw or paint with a graphics tablet
    21. Create textured brushes
    22. Add dynamic elements to brushes
    23. Gradient
    24. Paint stylized strokes with the Art History Brush
    25. Paint with a pattern
    26. Sync presets on multiple devices
  17. Text
    1. Add and edit the text
    2. Unified Text Engine
    3. Work with OpenType SVG fonts
    4. Format characters
    5. Format paragraphs
    6. How to create type effects
    7. Edit text
    8. Line and character spacing
    9. Arabic and Hebrew type
    10. Fonts
    11. Troubleshoot fonts
    12. Asian type
    13. Create type
    14. Text Engine error using Type tool in Photoshop | Windows 8
  18. Video and animation
    1. Video editing in Photoshop
    2. Edit video and animation layers
    3. Video and animation overview
    4. Preview video and animations
    5. Paint frames in video layers
    6. Import video files and image sequences
    7. Create frame animations
    8. Creative Cloud 3D Animation (Preview)
    9. Create timeline animations
    10. Create images for video
  19. Filters and effects
    1. Use the Liquify filter
    2. Use the Blur Gallery
    3. Filter basics
    4. Filter effects reference
    5. Add Lighting Effects
    6. Use the Adaptive Wide Angle filter
    7. Use the Oil Paint filter
    8. Layer effects and styles
    9. Apply specific filters
    10. Smudge image areas
  20. Saving and exporting
    1. Save your files in Photoshop
    2. Export your files in Photoshop
    3. Supported file formats
    4. Save files in graphics formats
    5. Move designs between Photoshop and Illustrator
    6. Save and export video and animations
    7. Save PDF files
    8. Digimarc copyright protection
  21. Printing
    1. Print 3D objects
    2. Print from Photoshop
    3. Print with color management
    4. Contact Sheets and PDF Presentations
    5. Print photos in a picture package layout
    6. Print spot colors
    7. Duotones
    8. Print images to a commercial printing press
    9. Improve color prints from Photoshop
    10. Troubleshoot printing problems | Photoshop
  22. Automation
    1. Creating actions
    2. Create data-driven graphics
    3. Scripting
    4. Process a batch of files
    5. Play and manage actions
    6. Add conditional actions
    7. About actions and the Actions panel
    8. Record tools in actions
    9. Add a conditional mode change to an action
    10. Photoshop UI toolkit for plug-ins and scripts
  23. Color Management
    1. Understanding color management
    2. Keeping colors consistent
    3. Color settings
    4. Work with color profiles
    5. Color-managing documents for online viewing
    6. Color-managing documents when printing
    7. Color-managing imported images
    8. Proofing colors
  24. Content authenticity
    1. Learn about content credentials
    2. Identity and provenance for NFTs
    3. Connect accounts for creative attribution
  25. 3D and technical imaging
    1. Photoshop 3D | Common questions around discontinued 3D features
    2. Creative Cloud 3D Animation (Preview)
    3. Print 3D objects
    4. 3D painting
    5. 3D panel enhancements | Photoshop
    6. Essential 3D concepts and tools
    7. 3D rendering and saving
    8. Create 3D objects and animations
    9. Image stacks
    10. 3D workflow
    11. Measurement
    12. DICOM files
    13. Photoshop and MATLAB
    14. Count objects in an image
    15. Combine and convert 3D objects
    16. 3D texture editing
    17. Adjust HDR exposure and toning
    18. 3D panel settings

Any filter applied to a Smart Object is a Smart Filter. Smart Filters appear in the Layers panel below the Smart Object layer to which they are applied. Because you can adjust, remove, or hide Smart Filters, they are nondestructive.

You can apply any Photoshop filter (that has been enabled to work with Smart Filters)—except for Lens Blur, Flame Picture Frame, Trees, and Vanishing Point—as a Smart Filter. In addition, you can apply Shadow/Highlight as Smart Filters.

To work with Smart Filters, select a Smart Object layer, choose a filter, and then set filter options. After you apply a Smart Filter, you can adjust, reorder, or delete it.

To expand or collapse the view of Smart Filters, click the triangle next to the Smart Filter icon, displayed to the right of the Smart Object layer in the Layers panel. (This technique also shows or hides Layer Style.) Or, choose Layers panel Options from the Layers panel menu, then select Expand New Effects in the dialog box.

Use filter masks to selectively mask Smart Filter effects.

Apply a Smart Filter

  1. Do one of the following:

    • To apply a Smart Filter to an entire Smart Object layer, select the layer in the Layers panel.

    • To constrain the effects of the Smart Filter to a selected area of a Smart Object layer, make a selection.

    • To apply a Smart Filter to a regular layer, select the layer, and choose Filter > Convert For Smart Filters, and click OK.

  2. Do one of the following:

    • Choose a filter from the Filter menu. You can choose any filter, including third-party filters that support Smart Filters, except Extract, Liquify, Pattern Maker, and Vanishing Point.

    • Choose Image > Adjustments > Shadows/Highlight.

    Note:

    If you apply one or more filters using the Filter Gallery, they appear as a group in the Layers panel named “Filter Gallery.” You can edit individual filters by double-clicking a Filter Gallery entry.

  3. Set filter options and click OK.

    The Smart Filter appears under the Smart Filters line in the Layers panel beneath the Smart Object layer. If you see a warning icon next to a Smart Filter in the Layers panel, the filter doesn’t support the image’s color mode or depth.

After you apply a Smart Filter, you can drag it (or an entire group of Smart Filters) onto another Smart Object layer in the Layers panel; press Alt-drag (Windows) or Option-drag (Mac OS) Smart Filters. You can’t drag Smart Filters onto regular layers.

Edit a Smart Filter

If a Smart Filter contains editable settings, you can edit it at any time. You can also edit blending options for Smart Filters.

Note:

When you edit a Smart Filter, you can’t preview filters stacked above it. After you finish editing the Smart Filter, Photoshop again displays the filters stacked above it.

Edit Smart Filter settings

  1. Double-click the Smart Filter in the Layers panel.
  2. Set filter options, and click OK.

Edit Smart Filter blending options

Editing Smart Filter blending options is similar to using the Fade command when applying a filter to a traditional layer.

  1. Double-click the Edit Blending Options icon  next to the Filter in the Layers panel.
  2. Set blending options, and click OK.

Hide Smart Filters

  1. Do one of the following:

    • To hide a single Smart Filter, click the eye icon  next to the Smart Filter in the Layers panel. To show the Smart Filter, click in the column again.

    • To hide all Smart Filters applied to a Smart Object layer, click the eye icon  next to the Smart Filters line in the Layers panel. To show the Smart Filters, click in the column again.

Reorder, duplicate, or delete Smart Filters

You can reorder Smart Filters in the Layers panel, duplicate them, or delete Smart Filters if you no longer want to apply them to a Smart Object.

Reorder Smart Filters

  1. In the Layers panel, drag a Smart Filter up or down in the list. (Double-click Filter Gallery to reorder any gallery filters.)

    Photoshop applies Smart Filters from the bottom up.

Duplicate Smart Filters

  1. In the Layers panel, Alt-drag (Windows) or Option-drag (Mac OS) the Smart Filter from one Smart Object to another, or to a new location in the Smart Filters list.
    Note:

    To duplicate all Smart Filters, Alt-drag (Windows) or Option-drag (Mac OS) the Smart Filters icon that appears next to the Smart Object layer.

Delete Smart Filters

  • To delete an individual Smart Filter, drag it to the Delete icon  at the bottom of the Layers panel.
  • To delete all Smart Filters applied to a Smart Object layer, select the Smart Object layer and choose Layer > Smart Filter > Clear Smart Filters.

Mask Smart Filters

When you apply a Smart Filter to a Smart Object, Photoshop displays an empty (white) mask thumbnail on the Smart Filters line in the Layers panel under the Smart Object. By default, this mask shows the entire filter effect. (If you made a selection before applying the Smart Filter, Photoshop displays the appropriate mask instead of an empty mask on the Smart Filters line in the Layers panel.)

Use filter masks to selectively mask Smart Filters. When you mask Smart Filters, the masking applies to all Smart Filters—you can’t mask individual Smart Filters.

Filter masks work much like layer masks, and you can use many of the same techniques with them. Like layer masks, filter masks are stored as alpha channels in the Channels panel, and you can load their boundaries as a selection.

Like layer masks, you can paint on a filter mask. Areas of the filter that you paint in black are hidden; areas you paint in white are visible; and areas you paint in shades of gray appear in various levels of transparency.

Use the controls in the Masks panel to change the filter mask density, add feathering to the edges of the mask, or invert the mask.

Note:

By default, layer masks are linked to regular layers or Smart Object layers. When you move the layer mask or the layer using the Move tool, they move as a unit.

Mask Smart Filter effects

  1. Click the filter mask thumbnail in the Layers panel to make it active.

    A border appears around the mask thumbnail.

  2. Select any of the editing or painting tools.
  3. Do one of the following:

    • To hide portions of the filter, paint the mask with black.

    • To show portions of the filter, paint the mask with white.

    • To make the filter partially visible, paint the mask with gray.

    Note:

    You can also apply image adjustments and filters to filter masks.

Change filter mask opacity or feather mask edges

  1. Click the filter mask thumbnail or select the Smart Object layer in the Layers panel, and then click the Filter Mask button in the Masks panel.

  2. In the Masks panel, drag the Density slider to adjust the mask opacity, and the Feathering slider to apply feathering to the mask edges. See Adjust mask opacity or edges.

    Note:

    The Mask Edge option is not available for filter masks.

Invert a filter mask

  1. Click the filter mask thumbnail in the Layers panel, then click Invert in the Masks panel.

Display only the filter mask

  1. Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Mac OS) the filter mask thumbnail in the Layers panel. To show the Smart Object layer, Alt-click or Option-click the filter mask thumbnail again.

Move or copy filter masks

  • To move the mask to another Smart Filter Effect, drag the mask to the other Smart Filter Effect.
  • To copy the mask, Alt-drag (Windows) or Option-drag (Mac OS) the mask to another Smart Filter Effect.

Disable a filter mask

  1. Do one of the following:

    • Shift-click the filter mask thumbnail in the Layers panel.

    • Click the filter mask thumbnail in the Layers panel, then click the Disable/Enable Mask button  in the Masks panel.

    • Choose Layer > Smart Filter > Disable Filter Mask.

    A red X appears over the filter mask thumbnail when the mask is disabled, and the Smart Filter appears without masking. To re-enable the mask, Shift-click the Smart Filter mask thumbnail again.

Delete a Smart Filter mask

  • Click the filter mask thumbnail in the Layers panel, then click the Delete icon  in the Masks panel.
  • Drag the filter mask thumbnail in the Layers panel to the Delete icon.
  • Select the Smart Filter Effect, and choose Layer > Smart Filters > Delete Filter Mask.

Add a filter mask

If you delete a filter mask, you can subsequently add another mask.

  • To add an empty mask, select the Smart Object layer, and then click the Filter Mask button in the Masks panel.
  • To add a mask based on a selection, make a selection, and then right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) the Smart Filters line in the Layers panel, and choose Add Filter Mask.

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