You’ve probably heard this question once or twice from a novice, or maybe even asked it yourself: what exactly is the difference between the Vibrance and Saturation sliders? Well, fortunately, Jesus Ramirez of Photoshop Training Channel has put together a quick, simple, and thorough explanation that you can reference from here on out.
At the most basic level, both options increase color intensity—the difference lies in which colors they affect and how.
Saturation impacts all color intensity equally, which is why it’s so easy to go overboard so quickly. Vibrance, on the other hand, only increases the intensity of the less saturated colors in an image while simultaneously trying to avoid skin tones and prevent the gaudy posterization that happens when you crank your saturation up to the max.
Jesus covers this difference in his video—with appropriate demos of course—but he also goes a bit further by diving into how the Saturation slider differs between the HSL panel and the Vibrance panel, and showing how the two options, Vibrance and Saturation, can be combined to achieve pleasing results that don’t look like you puked a rainbow all over your image.
Check out the full 5-minute video above to see the useful rundown for yourself, and then head over to the Photoshop Training Channel for even more handy tutorials like this one.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)