TIP: A very useful colour adjustment tip
I am currently working through my third CS3 tutorial and I picking up a ton of useful tips for my photographic workflow. I just HAD to share this one with you.
Regarding Hue/Saturation. When you overdo this on an adjustment layer in your photos your detail is lost and it looks really blocky. Sometimes you just can’t get the saturation adjustments you need.
Here’s how its done – Thank you to Chris Orwig for this one.
1) Open you image and convert it to LAB colour using: Image – Mode – Lab Colour
2) Create a curves adjustment layer
3) In the Curves dialog box ALT-click the grid to get a more detailed display
4) Go to the a – channel
5) Pull the black slider on the bottom of the grid into the right just one grid line (in this example although you can play!)
6) Pull the white slider opposite into the left by the same one grid line
7) Switch to the b channel and repeat.
8) Check out your image. This method actually increases saturation in tones you couldn’t even see that you had. Its excellent for autumn leaves or rivers and waterfalls.
9) When your done exit Curves dialog and convert your image back to RGB (select to Flatten in the pop up prompt)
10) Your all done.
This is by far the best tip I’ve discovered so far. I tried it out of interest on a shot from this afternoon and it brought out lovely greens in Autumn leaves and a lovely hazy blue on water and waterfalls.
Try it – I think you will like it! :D
SylviaHardy
Thank you so much for that Alan. I would love to try this, do you think I could work something like this out in Paintshop XI?
As I havn’t got Photoshop CS3
Carl Gaynor
I use photo shop in a very basic way, because over 90% of my photographs are film. So tips like this are very useful – thank you.
mlgkats
thanks for the tip allen
Brian Puhl IPA
good tip, i’m going to have to try this one out!!!
stevewellsphoto
i like it, thank you
Deri Dority
Thanks for the tip!!! This would be great posted to the group dedicated to Photoshop (Pixelations).
Melinda Kerr
Ha ha looks like you’re working through Lynda.com like me :) :) This is so timely. I had done that tutorial but forgotton it (as I am hopelessly memory deficient!) and was thinking today I would re-do it. And now you’ve done it for me! Thatnks Alan you star!
davoid
I will try this Alan, it sounds good. Thank you.
Deri Dority
I tried this out a little while ago on my new image that I posted
Fall Moon
It worked great!! I love it. Fall moon has several other filters applied in addition to the tip you posted. But this tip is for sure a keeper.
Naomi Frost
Thanks for the tip, Alan. Do you know if this can be done in Photoshop Elements 0.4 by any chance??
Ben Herman
works well, thanks for tip :)
W. J. St. Chri...
Thanks for the tip, Alan! I’ll file it under: “Very useful Photoshop stuff I didn’t have to figure out the hard way.”
Ann Garrett
This is a great technique – I first learnt it from a Dan Margulis book. Most of it went over my head but this bit went over my head but this bit I could follow.
Ann Garrett
oops :)
Boadicea
great tip. Couldn’t wait to try it and it works a treat
Deri Dority
This is a wonderful tip. I have been using it off and on since you posted it.
DWarren
I used this exact method last year and the results looked absolutely wonderful (on screen). After converting back to RGB Mode and saving to CD when I had my images printed I got a completely different result. The prints were so bad I didn’t accept them.
After researching, I read a tutorial stating why this had occured and if I remember correctly LAB Mode was to be used for web images only.