Diploma in Photoshop

Diploma in Photoshop

Adjustment Layers An adjustment layer applies colour and tonal adjustments to your image without permanently changing pixel values. The colour and tonal adjustments are stored in the adjustment layer and apply to all the layers below it. You can discard your changes and restore the original image at any time, for this reason adjustment layers are considered non-destructive and are the best choice when making adjustments to a photograph. There are 3 ways to add an adjustment layer. 1) Layer > New Adjustment Layer 2) The Adjustment Layers Panel (A) 3) The bottom tray on the Layers Palette. (B) (B) (A) Adjustment tool button Various adjustment layers How adjustment layers appear in the layers palette

Levels a quick and easy way to adjust brightness and contrast We use the Levels adjustment to correct the tonal range of an image by adjusting intensity levels of image shadows, midtones, and highlights. The Levels histogram is a visual guide for adjusting the image key tones. For more information on the histogram please revisit Lesson 3 of your Diploma in Photoshop course. The levels adjustment contains three sliders (black, grey, white). The black slider alters the black and dark tones in the image, the grey slider alters the mid-tone contrast or gamma, and the white slider alters our light and white tones. There is also an auto button on the Levels adjustment. However, we often avoid using this as it yields questionable results. The Levels adjustment is very useful for tweaking images that contain a lot of very dark or very light areas, as we can also our light and dark tones independently of our midtones. Clipping Mask Icon A clipping mask allows us to apply an adjustment to a single layer as opposed to all of our layers in our Photoshop document. In the Curves adjustment, you adjust points throughout an image s tonal range. Initially, the image s tonality is represented as a straight diagonal baseline on a graph. As you add control points to the line and move them, the shape of the curve changes, reflecting your image adjustments. The histogram in the curves panel should be used as a guide for the adjustments. We can use the on image adjustment tool (marked in red on the illustration here) to plot specific luminance values based on where we click on the image. This allows us to plot points incredibly accurately based on our desired luminance level. To delete points on the histogram, simple click on the point and hit the Backspace button on your keyboard.

Types of Curves - different curves produce different results S-Curve boosts contrast in our image. We can increase our exposure (make lighter) by pulling the entire line upwards. The line should be anchored by a central plotted point. We can decrease our exposure (make darker) by pulling the entire line downwards. The line should be anchored by a central plotted point. Useful Tip Sometimes it s a good idea to over do our work when we are altering the tones and colours in our image using the adjustment layers, then use the opacity slider to soften the overall appearance. This gives us a look that is realistic yet dramatic.

Colour Adjustments in Photoshop The Vibrance adjustment layer is a fantastic tool when you want to make the colours in your photograph pop. It contains two sliders, Vibrance and Saturation. The Vibrance slider increases or decreases colour saturation, but cleverly leaves the already well saturated colours alone. It functions like a fill light, but with colour. It also prevents skin tones from becoming oversaturated. The Saturation slider does not pay attention to the starting saturation point of colours, and therefore when overused can produce a highly artificial look. Especially on skin tones. When using these sliders, use a light hand and don t over apply. If in doubt, use the opacity slider to dilute the overall adjustment. The Hue/Saturation adjustment inside Photoshop is incredibly powerful. It contains 3 sliders. The two colour ramps in the properties box represent the colours in their order on the colour wheel. The upper colour bar shows the colour before applying any hue adjustment using the hue slider, the lower bar shows how those colours will be mapped after the hue adjustment. The Saturation slider increases or decreases the intensity of all colours in the image. This is very useful when used after the Hue adjustment, as sometimes this can cause certain colours on the spectrum to become over saturated. Lightness adds black to the image when dragged to the left, and adds white the image when dragged to the right. The colorize slider is used for adding a colour to black and white images. It is very useful for adding sepia effects. You can select a specific colour on the spectrum to adjust by using the small hand picker tool in the properties box (circled in red). To add or remove colours from this selection, simply use the + and colour droppers. These are located on the bottom of the Hue/Saturation properties panel.