Radiant Photo 2 and Adobe Photoshop are designed to work together seamlessly. We ensure support for Photoshop’s most powerful features, including 16-bit workflow for greater color accuracy and Smart Filter support for editing flexibility. With Radiant Photo, you can choose to work non-destructively in Photoshop and make changes at any time. While not every company’s filters work this way, we want to give professional users the control they want and need.
Create and modify a Smart Object
If you’re working with a traditional image in Photoshop, converting to Smart Objects and Smart Filters is easy.
- First, select the layer you want to use the Smart Filter on.
- Then choose Filter > Convert for Smart Filters. The layer is now a Smart Object. You can tell a layer is being used as a Smart Object by looking at its layer badge in the Layers panel.
- Now, let’s use Radiant Photo as a Smart Filter. With the targeted layer selected in the Layers panel, choose Filter > Radiant Imaging Labs > Radiant Photo. The filter is applied and goes to work automatically.
When working with Smart Objects, filters may take a little bit longer to apply. In the Layers panel, you’ll see that the filter has been applied.
- Double-click the filter name in the Layers panel. Doing so reopens the Radiant Photo interface. You’ll see that the same presets and slider positions are loaded from the last time the filter was run on this layer. Feel free to make changes to the filter. The original image is updated as if you were starting from scratch, but your saved settings mean you picked up where you left off before.
- When satisfied, click the OK button.
Working with Smart Objects and raw files
With Smart Filters, the ability to adjust whenever you need to is an essential feature in the Photoshop version of the filter. In fact, you can also combine this approach with using raw files.
- In Photoshop, open the raw file as you would any other. Then, the image is handed off to Adobe Camera Raw.
- Get a flatter image from the Camera Raw dialog and make sure the highlights and shadows are properly exposed.
- The only other Option to use is the Lens Corrections tab to compensate for geometric issues.
- Now check the workflow options. To do this, click the blue hyperlink text at the bottom of the window.
- Ensure Open in Photoshop as Smart Objects is checked.
- Also, choose to work in 16 bits per channel for greater color accuracy.
- Click OK to store the setting, then click Open Object to send the raw file to a new Photoshop document as a smart object.
Once the file opens, you’ll see that the image layer is already a Smart Object. You don’t need to use the Convert for Smart Filters command, as the picture is already converted. Instead, apply Radiant Photo and choose an appropriate preset. Feel free to refine your image with the Adjustment controls if you like. When satisfied, click the OK button.
Modifying Smart Objects
Just like before, the filter is applied as a Smart Filter. You can double-click on the filter’s name to modify it if you need to make changes. Let’s make a small change and click OK to store the changes. Additionally, the raw file can also be redeveloped. This choice is similar to Lightroom, where the raw file is preserved with nondestructive edits.
- Double-click on the layer’s thumbnail in the Layers panel to reopen the raw file into Adobe Camera Raw.
- After making any changes, you can reload the image into Photoshop by clicking OK.
- The layer updates. Not only does the image, but Radiant Photo re-analyzes the new image and intelligently updates its results.
Smart Filters offer truly flexible workflows for even the most demanding users. For example, you can decide to:
- Click the visibility icon to disable an effect at any time.
- If you’d like to remove an effect, just drag it into the trash at the bottom of the Layers panel.
- You can even combine multiple filters on an image and drag their stacking order to change the order in which the filters are applied.
For the utmost precision control, feel free to select the Smart Filter’s mask. You can now paint on the mask to refine exactly where the filter is applied. This choice can be useful to target specific areas of the image while leaving others untouched. You can even paint with a lower opacity brush to blend the results.
Thanks to Smart Filters and Radiant Photo, you can take advantage of automatic image corrections and robust controls. In addition, you’ll find that Radiant Photo fully supports this modern Photoshop workflow at any point you need to make a change.
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