Image Adjustments in Photoshop

Image Adjustments are tools that modify the visual appearance of an image.

They can be used to correct problems or create creative effects.

• Brightness
• Contrast
• Colors
• Shadows
• Highlights

Adjustments can improve an image that is too dark, too bright, dull or lacking color.

They are also useful for creating a particular visual style.

Photoshop provides adjustment commands through the Image menu.

Image → Adjustments

The available options depend on the Photoshop version and the type of document or layer you are working with.

Brightness controls how light or dark an image appears. Contrast controls the difference between lighter and darker areas.

Image → Adjustments → Brightness/Contrast

Levels provides more detailed control over the shadows, midtones and highlights of an image.

It can be useful when an image has poor tonal balance.

Image → Adjustments → Levels

Curves allows you to make precise changes to the brightness and contrast of an image using a graph.

You can create points on the curve and adjust different tonal ranges.

Image → Adjustments → Curves

Hue/Saturation is used to change colors and control their intensity.

• Hue changes the color.
• Saturation changes color intensity.
• Lightness changes how light or dark the color appears.

Color Balance allows you to adjust colors in different tonal ranges.

It can help correct a color cast or create a particular color style.

The Black & White adjustment converts a color image into a grayscale-style image.

It provides control over how different original colors appear as shades of gray.

Exposure adjustment can change the overall exposure of an image.

It is useful when an image needs controlled changes to its brightness and tonal appearance.

Vibrance increases color intensity with a more controlled effect than simply increasing Saturation.

It can be useful when you want to make colors look more lively without making every color extremely strong.

Photo Filter can add a color tone to an image.

Warm or cool tones can be used to create a particular mood.

Cool Tone → Blue/Cyan feeling
Warm Tone → Yellow/Orange feeling

Invert changes the colors of an image to their opposite values.

It can be used for creative effects and special image editing tasks.

Image → Adjustments → Invert

Posterize reduces the number of tonal levels in an image.

This can create a simplified, graphic or poster-like appearance.

Threshold converts an image into a high-contrast result based on a selected tonal threshold.

The result commonly contains primarily black and white areas.

Gradient Map maps the grayscale tones of an image to colors from a selected gradient.

It can create creative color grading and artistic effects.

Selective Color allows you to adjust the components of individual color ranges.

It provides detailed color correction and creative color control.

The Shadows/Highlights adjustment is useful for recovering or balancing detail in darker and brighter areas.

It can be useful when an image contains very dark shadows or overly bright highlights.

If a photograph is too dark, you can carefully increase its brightness or adjust its tonal range.

1. Open the image.
2. Check the darkest areas.
3. Try Brightness/Contrast.
4. Use Levels or Curves for more control.
5. Review the highlights.

If an image is too bright, reduce the brightness or adjust the highlights and tonal range.

Avoid reducing brightness so much that important details become too dark.

A dull image may benefit from controlled color adjustments.

Vibrance or Saturation can make colors stronger, but excessive adjustment can make the image look unnatural.

Adjustment Layers allow you to apply adjustments without permanently changing the original image pixels.

They are very useful for non-destructive editing.

Original Image
      ↓
Adjustment Layer
      ↓
Edited Appearance

• Easy to edit later
• Can be hidden or shown
• Can be adjusted again
• Can use layer masks
• Original image remains easier to preserve

Adjustment Layers are an important part of a professional Photoshop workflow.

An adjustment layer can be combined with a layer mask so that the adjustment affects only selected areas.

Adjustment Layer
       +
   Layer Mask
       ↓
Selected Areas Only

This gives you more control over the final result.

Adjustments can help create a consistent color style across images used in posters and advertisements.

You can also use adjustment layers to make photographs match the overall color theme of the design.

• Increasing saturation too much
• Making images excessively bright
• Making shadows completely black
• Using too many adjustments
• Ignoring skin tones
• Overusing creative color effects
• Not checking the original image
• Making the final image look unnatural

Practice image adjustments using a sample photograph:

1. Open a photograph in Photoshop.
2. Create a duplicate layer.
3. Try Brightness/Contrast.
4. Try Levels.
5. Try Curves.
6. Try Hue/Saturation.
7. Try Color Balance.
8. Try Black & White.
9. Compare the original and edited versions.
10. Choose the most natural result.

Suppose you have a photograph that looks dark and dull. You can improve it using several adjustments.

Original Photo
      ↓
Brightness / Contrast
      ↓
Levels
      ↓
Hue / Saturation
      ↓
Final Balanced Image

Always make small changes and check the image after every adjustment.

1. Open the original image.
2. Keep a backup or duplicate when appropriate.
3. Check brightness and contrast.
4. Correct tonal problems.
5. Adjust colors carefully.
6. Use adjustment layers for flexible editing.
7. Use masks when an adjustment should affect only part of an image.
8. Compare the result with the original.
9. Check the image at normal viewing size.
10. Save the Photoshop project.

Image Adjustments are used to control brightness, contrast, colors, tones and creative appearance in Photoshop.

Important adjustments include Brightness/Contrast, Levels, Curves, Hue/Saturation, Color Balance, Black & White, Vibrance and others.

Adjustment Layers provide a flexible and non-destructive way to edit images while keeping the original image easier to preserve.