Smart Filters! Smart Filters! Smart Filters!

Gone are the days of having to use Undo for a filter. Now you can apply filters with aplomb because we have Smart Filters! The Smart Filter works much in the same way that an adjustment layer works³it places the filter in a separate layer that you can manipulate nondestructively.

To use Smart Filters, you’re going to have to turn your content into a Smart Object. Control-click (PC: Right-click) on the layer that contains the content, and select Convert to Smart Object. Once that is completed, you can go into the Filter menu and apply the filter you would like.

Once the filter is applied on the Smart Object, you will see a sublayer in the Layers panel that contains the Smart Filter. You can double-click on the Smart Filter and make any necessary adjustments or hide it by clicking on the Eye icon. There are a couple of filters that do not work as a Smart Filter: Extract, Liquify, Pattern Maker, and Vanishing Point.