Photoshop Smart Objects – 5 Pro Tips

Photoshop Smart Objects – 5 Pro Tips

In today’s video, I’ll show you the 5 most useful techniques you can achieve by using Smart Objects. These Photoshop smart objects tips will help you in your everyday workflow. Get the most out of Photoshop smart objects with these easy to follow tips.

Create a Smart Object From the Start.

In this first tip, we’re gonna take this image from Lightroom over to Photoshop. Notice that I have already made some basic adjustments to this image, exposure, contrast, highlights, and shadows, and now I’m gonna right-click on this image and come up here to Edit In, Open as Smart Object.

One of the main advantages of doing this is that you can maintain the non-destructive nature of the RAW image and re-edit the RAW file or resize your image non-destructively all while you’re over in Photoshop instead of having to return to Lightroom.

So as I click on Open as Smart Object in Photoshop, so what is important here is you wanna try and get the base adjustments right before you start the rest of your editing, so this is a good time to do that in your workflow. So if you decide you want to re-edit the RAW image right within Photoshop, maybe you thought the image was too bright, or needed more contrast, or needed to tweak the white balance, this is what you would do right here. You would double-click on the Smart Object thumbnail and this puts you in the Camera Raw interface.

So if I come over here to the Basic tab, and here you can see that the adjustments that were done in Lightroom came over to Photoshop, so if I need to tweak any of these, I can do that here and get my adjustments just right in Camera Raw before I continue my editing, and say OK here, and so I didn’t need to go back to Lightroom to do these adjustments. They’re very similar in Camera Raw.

It’s a good best practice to make this initial layer a Smart Object, in many cases, when you first open up your project. Whether you’re making color adjustments or maybe using the Liquify filter, the initial layer in your project should probably be a Smart Object. Photoshop smart objects.

Using Image Adjustments With Smart Objects

Tip number two has to do with image adjustments. So down here in the Layers panel, you can see that you have all of the adjustment layers, and as you know, the adjustment layer sits on top of any layer that you want to adjust, but in this case, I wanna make an adjustment right to the image itself, so I’m gonna come up here to Image, Adjustments, and I’m gonna use Hue and Saturation.

So if I want to maybe change the color of this dress that this model is wearing because I wanna fit it into another image for a composite. So in this case, I’ll choose Blues and I’ll change the hue a little bit, and I’ll say OK. I’ll add another adjustment, maybe levels, and adjust the mid-tones just a little bit and say OK. Over in the Layers panel on my Smart Object if I click over here on the far right, it says reveal layer effects in the panel. Now I have two Smart Filters, so I’ve used the adjustments, and because it’s a Smart Object, it is also non-destructive, and I can go back in and change it.

So I can double-click on the Hue/Saturation, so I can go back in and change any of the values. I can do the same thing for my levels, change any of the values I need. Also here on the side, you can double-click on any of these and it brings up another window, and I have my options. I can use my blending options. I can adjust the opacity. So I have all these controls in a Smart Filter and I can go back to it. I can copy this Smart Object with Command + C, and say I wanna see how this model is gonna look right up against this car in a composite. I can say Command + V and paste this in here and just to see how the model looks in this composite. You can do something very quickly.

After I paste it in, I can size it down so I can see how it’s gonna look in the photo. Command + T, zero, and because it’s a Smart Object it is not going to lose quality, and just paste it, something like that. Use my Select Subject, get rid of the background.

Then I’m gonna click on the Add layer mask. Again, I’ll position to model. Command + T, and because it’s a Smart Object it is not gonna lose quality. Say OK, and notice I still have the same Smart Filters of my original image, so if I wanna change the hue to a color that’s a little bit more closer to the car, I can do that, and so it’s just a way to keep all your Smart Filters with you, and so now I can go back and forth trying to decide what colors work here in this image or any other image. So a great use of image adjustments with Smart Filters. Photoshop smart objects.

Duplicating a Smart Object

So tip number three has something to do with duplicating Smart Objects, and it’s something that could be easily overlooked if you’re just not thinking about it at the time. So I’m gonna duplicate this layer with Command + J and call this Bottle2, and I’m gonna move these bottles, positioning them over, and I’m gonna duplicate this layer again. Command + J, Bottle3. I’m gonna move my Bottle3 over. I’m gonna double-click on my Bottle3 Smart Object just to show you what’s in there. There’s a couple of layers in here that have vector mask and another levels adjustment. I’m gonna turn off this levels adjustment and I’m gonna save my Smart Object, but that change affected all three bottles.

Now, that may be what you want at some times, but the thing is is the Smart Objects are all the same instance of the bottle, or the Smart Objects are basically all the same. They’re all pointing to each other. That may not be what you want. What if you want that change to only affect one of the bottles?

So I’m gonna click on the Bottle3 Smart Object and I’m gonna put my levels back on and save this again, and just for the heck of it, I’m gonna delete Bottle3, and now if I right-click on any of the Smart Objects and say New Smart Object via Copy, okay, so now that’s my Bottle3, and I’m gonna move it over, and I’m gonna go back into that Bottle3, turn off my levels again, save it, and now my change is only applied to that one bottle.

New Smart Object via Copy gives you a copy of the Smart Object, but it’s not linked to it. It’s not the same instance to it, so it’s just that understanding of working with duplicating Smart Objects will maybe save you a little head-scratching episode when you realize that you’re affecting more than one Smart Object that you made a copy of. Photoshop smart objects.

How to Make Global Image Adjustments Using Smart Objects

So here’s tip number four. If you are done with your project but I wanna make some adjustments to the whole image, a global adjustment to the whole image, but I don’t want to merge everything down and then make the adjustment, what I’m going to do is I’m going to start from the layer that’s right above the background layer and hold Shift down and click, and I have selected all of the layers, and now I wanna convert this to a Smart Object. Right-click, Convert to Smart Object, and if you have a lot of layers, this could take a little while.

So now I have all my layers in a Smart Object, and remember, because it’s a Smart Object I can always double-click on it and open up all those layers again, but I’m gonna use the filter, Camera Raw Filter. Now I know that this is actually a global adjustment to the whole image at one time.

So if I wanna add a little bit of exposure, some contrast, adjust some of the shadows, maybe add some vibrance. I’ve made all my adjustments. I say OK, now I’m out of Camera Raw, back into Photoshop, and all my adjustments have been made to this image. They’re global adjustments. I’ve preserved all my layers. I can double-click. I’ve opened up my Smart Object. I can go back in and change any of the layers that I need to, and then I can close my Smart Object up here. It is a PSB extension, so I can close that, and if I had made any change, it would have saved it, but it’s another way to help your workflow.

Keeping Your Layer Mask With a Smart Object

So here’s tip number five. In this project, I made this composite here. The model here was cut out and put in this background image. So don’t do what I did in this image here. My mistake was the subject is a Smart Object but I don’t have a layer mask with it right here. See, I double-clicked on the Smart Object. There is no layer mask. That could be a problem. What I should have done is after I created my layer mask, and in this case, I knew I was gonna have a layer mask, is create a Smart Object out of it.

So I’m gonna create a Smart Object out of my image here that has been cut out and has a layer mask with it. So now I have my Smart Object, and I can say Command + C ’cause I wanna copy it into this image here. Command + V, I’ve copied it in. Obviously it’s too big right now, and I’m sure you’ve heard that if you wanna resize any object in your project it should be a Smart Object. Command + T and a zero will bring my handles down where I can see it.

So I’m just gonna quickly position this here. Roughly the same size. Okay, so the layer are brought in. Now when I double-click on it, so now I have the mask inside of the Smart Object, so I can refine the mask, and because the mask is inside the Smart Object when I resize this image or this layer it is going to preserve the quality of the mask and the image. So I can make my adjustment to the mask right here, save the PSB.

So that is something to consider. If you know you’re going to have a layer mask, make the Smart Object first. You’re preserving the quality of the mask and your image at the same time, especially if you’re going to be doing any transitions. Whether you’re rotating, resizing, it’s gonna preserve everything that’s in that Smart Object. Photoshop smart objects.

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