Question: I work a lot with adjustment layers inside of Adobe Photoshop. I also somewhat work with Smart Objects, but not as much as I do with adjustment layers. I’m starting to see that my Layers panels are getting quite full and I’d like to organize them somewhat. I’m wondering if I can take a few layers, as well as adjustment layers, at a time and include them in a Smart Object. Obviously, these layers that are in the same Smart Object will be related, so that’s not really an issue.
Answer: Yes, it is possible to convert most anything to a Smart Object if it’s included in the Layers panel in Photoshop. You can convert a single layer, multiple individual layers and groups of layers to a Smart Object. They’re very versatile entities. And as I’ve mentioned before on this blog, it’s also possible to apply filters and blending modes to those conversions. So, if you’ve got lots of layers and adjustment layers that you’d like to apply an overall filter and/or blend mode to, the best way to go about doing that is to first highlight those layers in the Layers panel and then convert them to a Smart Object. Once that’s completed, you can apply the filter, blend mode or Smart Filter blend mode. It’s exactly the same process as it would be if nothing was converted at all.
To read about this topic in more detail, please review this post. It’s got lots of great information contained in it:
Grouping Adjustment Layers + Smart Objects in Adobe Photoshop
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