Photoshop tip for 2/14/10

[KmH]

If you need to rasterize an effect or layer blending mode so you can use a filter, click on the layer (we'll call it layer 1) to select it, then Ctrl-click the Create a New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers pallet to create a new blank layer (layer 2) below layer 1, re-select layer 1 and Merge Down (Ctrl-E).

That will rasterize the effect, retain the appearence of the blending mode you had originally selected for the effect, but will return the now merged layer back to the Normal blending mode.