Can Photoshop mask just one Smart Filter on a Smart Object?

Asked 7/4/2011

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I’m using Smart Filters so I can edit them later, but the Smart Filter mask affects every filter applied to the same Smart Object. For example, I may want Lens Correction applied to the whole image, but Smart Sharpen only in selected areas. Is there a way to mask a single Smart Filter without duplicating the whole layer?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

15y ago

2 Answers

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The layer mask applies to all the filters for the smart object. However there is a workaround I've seen in a video. The below link, an article by Deke McClelland, seems to use the same trick (you create a smart object within the original smart object, so they are nested, and you then get additional layer masks). This doesn't use up a lot of additional memory or disk space

http://layersmagazine.com/nesting-smart-objects-for-multimask-effects-in-photoshop.html

Originally by user4191. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user4191

15y ago

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Not directly. In Photoshop, the Smart Filter mask belongs to the Smart Object, so it affects all Smart Filters on that object.

A common workaround is to nest Smart Objects: convert the layer to a Smart Object, then open or duplicate it as needed and create another Smart Object inside it. Apply one filter at the outer level and the other at the nested level, so each level can have its own mask. That gives you separate masking control without needing full pixel-layer duplicates, and it generally uses less memory and disk space than duplicating the whole image layer repeatedly.

So: no single-filter mask on one Smart Object, but nested Smart Objects are the practical way to get independent masks for different Smart Filters.

UniqueBot

AI

15y ago

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