Chapter 11

Adjusting Colors

Chapter Lessons

• Correct and adjust color• Enhance colors by altering saturation• Modify color channels using levels• Create color samplers with the Info panel

Enhancing Color

• Use color-enhancing tools to change the mood or personality of a color by changing its tonal values

• Tonal values (also called color levels):– Numeric values of an individual color– Used to duplicate a color

Reproducing Colors

• Use color adjustment tools to specify exactly how colors should appear when printed

• Colors levels are modified by making adjustments to the input and output levels

Correct and Adjust Color Making Color Corrections

• Balancing color:– Add and subtract colors from those already

existing in a layer– Correct oversaturated or undersaturated color– Remove color casts from an image

Color Balance Dialog Box

• Contains three sliders:– Cyan-Red– Magenta-Green– Yellow-Blue

• Adjust colors by dragging sliders or typing values in the Color Levels text boxes

Modifying Curves

• Use the Curves dialog box to alter the output tonal value of any pixel input

• Change as many as 16 points along the 0-255 scale in the Curves dialog box:– Horizontal axis: original intensity values (Input

levels)– Vertical axis: modified color values (Output levels)

Curves Settings in Properties Panel

Active Setting

Values for Active Setting

Analyzing Colors

• Create an adjustment layer• Experiment with color corrections:– Adjust the color sliders and view changes to the

image– Modify the curves

Variations Dialog Box

• In the Variations dialog box, view thumbnails of color variations while making color adjustments

Enhance Colors by Altering Saturation Understanding Saturation

• Purity of a particular color• The higher the saturation level, the more

intense the color• Modify color saturation using:– The Hue/Saturation dialog box– Sponge tool

Using the Sponge Tool

• Use to increase or decrease the color saturation of a specific area within a layer

• Sponge tool settings include:– Brush size– Saturation or de-saturation levels– Speed with which the color flows into or from the

Sponge tool

Saturation ExampleReds

Saturated

Before After

Understanding Hue

• Hue is the amount of color that is reflected from an object– Assigned a measurement from 0 to 360 degrees– Described in terms of tints or shades (red, yellow-

green, blue, gold, etc.)

Adjusting Hue/Saturation

• In the Hue/Saturation dialog box use the following sliders:– Hue– Saturation– Lightness

Converting to Grayscale

• Use the Hue/Saturation settings to apply grayscale tones to an object in an image

Object in Grayscale

Modify Color Channels Using Levels

• Use the Levels settings to make adjustments across a tonal range:– Uses the composite color channel or individual

channel• The Levels feature uses a histogram and

displays light and dark color values on a linear scale

Histograms

• A graph that represents the frequency distribution of colors in an image

• Adjustments are made to the input and output levels

• Plotted data indicates the total number of pixels for a given tonal value

Levels Dialog Box

Histogram showing plotted

data

Sliders

• Levels settings contains six sliders that are used to make color adjustments:• Shadows slider• Midtones slider• Highlights slider• Output shadows slider• Output highlights slider

Create Color Samples with the Info Panel

• Use the Color Sampler tool to sample and store up to four distinct color samplers– Apply each of the four color samples to an image– Use the samplers to make color adjustments

Color Samplers• Each sample represented by a number

Sample 1

Sample 2

Info Panel

• Displays the following information:– Actual color values for current color mode– CMYK values– X & Y coordinates of the pointer location– Width and height of a selection

• Info panel expands to show color measurement information when a color sample is created

Info Panel with Color SamplersRGB Color

Values

Pointer Coordinates

CMYK Color Values

Width & Height

Color Samplers

Manipulating Color Samplers

• Move a color sampler by dragging the sampler icon to a new location:– Color value information is updated in the Info

panel• Delete any of the samplers