One Great Photoshop Tip: Adjustment Layers
Welcome, readers, to installment #2 of Design Fridays. Today, I’m going to address a new ‘Best Practice Tool’ Adobe added to Photoshop in version CS3: Adjustment Layers.
Photo editors are continually faced with the need to correct color in photographs – making a vacation photograph less ‘reddish’; turning a cool picture Black & White; bringing out the bright colors to make a picture ‘pop’. Until version CS3, your option was to click the Image menu, slide down the menu to Adjustments, and make a selection. There are a lot of very powerful tools on this menu, but the drawback is this – if you realize it’s a mistake, you’re left Undo-ing backwards until the change comes off the photo.
The new alternative: Adjustment Layers. Many of the same tools on the Adjustments menu are available through an Adjustment Layer, and the benefit is that you can simply alter the layer, or delete the layer. It makes an already powerful tool powerful AND dynamic. To give you an example, I’ll try turning a photo Black & White:
First, find your Layers palette on the right side of your screen. Then, click the button that looks like a black & white cookie at the bottom of the palette. You’ll see options for Levels, Color Balance, Black & White… a lot of the good features you need. Let’s try Black & White.
Notice that you get all the same options from Image -> Adjustments -> Black & White. However, when you click OK now, you have a new layer sitting on top of your original layer. And there are four very powerful options at your disposal.
#1 – you realize that you need to alter your choice. Bring your mouse to the layer with the Black & White choices, and double-click. You’ll get the exact same panel, with the same choices you made earlier. Make an adjustment and click OK – you’ve got a different flavor of Black & White.
#2 – you’re working on the file, and would really like to see the photo in full-color again (temporarily) as you’re working. Go to the layer with your Black & White adjustment, and click the ‘Eyeball’ icon. You’ll get your full-color version back, and you can always turn the ‘Eyeball’ on again to see the Black & White version.
#3 – You realize, three weeks from now, that you actually need the file full-color. Click the Adjustment Layer, and click the ‘Trashcan’ in the bottom-right corner to Delete the layer. No matter when you need to undo – you can.
#4 – You want to do one of those trendy photos where part of the photo is Black & White, and the other part is full-color. Simply click the Adjustment Layer’s Layer Mask icon, and paint with a black paintbrush anywere you want to see color again.
I think that if you use Adjustment Layers, you’ll find the flexibility really benefits your end product. If you’d like to get some practice with the tool, try out our Adobe Photoshop course. Good luck!
