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Your Quick Guide to Understanding Photoshop Adjustment Layers

09 Dec

The post Your Quick Guide to Understanding Photoshop Adjustment Layers appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Ringsmuth.

photoshop adjustment layers a quick guide

Adjustment layers are one of the most essential aspects of editing images in Photoshop. They let you apply rich, detailed edits to your photos that go well beyond what you can accomplish in other programs.

Now, adjustment layers can be a bit difficult to understand if you’re used to a more streamlined application like Lightroom, Apple Photos, or Luminar. But with a bit of practice, you can easily master Photoshop adjustment layers and take your photo editing to the next level!

Photoshop adjustment layers magnolia seed — Nikon D7100 | 50mm f/1.8G | 50mm | 1/500s | f/2.8 | ISO 250

What are Photoshop adjustment layers?

When you open a picture in Photoshop, you can’t just start dragging sliders to change its appearance. Before you can do much of anything, you need to start with layers, which serve as the bedrock of everything that makes Photoshop so powerful.

Photoshop adjustment layers leaf — Nikon D7100 | 50mm f/1.8G | 50mm | 1/250s | f/2.8 | ISO 450

To help visualize the concept of adjustment layers, think about a physical picture sitting on your desk. If you wanted to give the picture a green tint, you could simply drape a sheet of green cellophane over it.

That’s exactly how adjustment layers work in Photoshop: They let you change the visual properties of your image without destroying the underlying file. You can add as many adjustment layers as you want and use them to change things like white balance, exposure, hue/saturation, and over a dozen other properties.

In other words:

Photoshop adjustment layers are like stacking sheets of digital cellophane on top of your images. Each layer can be controlled individually and combined with layer masks to apply edits to specific parts of your images. All of this might seem needlessly complicated compared to the simplicity of other programs, but once you get the hang of Photoshop adjustment layers, you’ll never want to go back.

Photoshop adjustment layers dandelion — Nikon D7100 | 50mm f/1.8G | 50mm | 1/2000s | f/2.8 | ISO 100

Another way to think about Photoshop adjustment layers is by comparing them to panels in the Develop module of Lightroom.

However, the Develop panels only offer a handful of adjustments that you can use. Photoshop lets you stack as many layers as you need – even multiple layers of the same type of adjustment – so you can tweak your images as much as you could possibly want. There is a bit of a learning curve, but the results are well worth the effort.

How to add an adjustment layer

The first step when working with adjustment layers is to load an image into Photoshop. Then click on the Adjustments panel, which is usually located above the Layers panel.

(If you don’t see the Adjustments panel, go to the Window menu and choose Adjustments.)

Photoshop adjustment layers — Load an image into Photoshop and then click the Adjustments panel.

The Adjustment panel offers sixteen adjustments to choose from, and sorting through all of these can be overwhelming (especially if you’re used to the simple, straightforward editing parameters available in Lightroom).

Photoshop adjustments — Each one of these icons is a specific type of adjustment. Hover your cursor over each one to see a brief description.

Some of these adjustments are similar to what you might find in Lightroom, such as Brightness/Contrast and Color Balance. But using the adjustments is much different from working in Lightroom and, in some ways, more complicated. Fortunately, that also means you can get much better results.

To see how this process works, I’ve included an image (below) that clearly needs some editing. Thankfully, Photoshop adjustment layers are here to help!

Photoshop adjustment layers Minnesota — Fujifilm X100F | 23mm | 1/4000s | f/8 | ISO 200

I’ll start by adding a Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer, which is a simple matter of just clicking the Brightness/Contrast icon in the Adjustments panel. Immediately, two sliders appear, which you can use to make the picture brighter or darker and to add or remove contrast.

Brightness/Contrast editing parameters — After clicking an adjustment layer icon, the available editing parameters show up for you to start working with.

A few seconds later, my picture is much improved, thanks to a brightness boost. However, there is still a lot of work left to do.

One other thing happens when you click an adjustment layer icon that you might not notice but is critically important:

The Layers panel will create a layer specifically for that adjustment.

adjustment layers — Clicking an adjustment icon automatically adds a new layer to your image with the selected adjustment as its title.

This new layer, along with all the icons associated with it, is what gives an adjustment so much flexibility. In Lightroom, you can enable and disable individual panels in the Develop module, but you don’t have this level of control over your adjustments.

Note the different icons in the short screen capture above:

Indicates layer visibility: Click this to hide or show the adjustment.
Layer thumbnail: Double-click this to show the editing parameters (sliders, eyedroppers, etc.) for the adjustment layer.
Indicates layer mask is linked to layer: Click this to unlink the adjustment layer mask from the adjustment. If you’re new to adjustment layers, you can just ignore this altogether.
Layer mask thumbnail: This is a very tiny preview of the layer mask that is created by default when you click on a new adjustment layer icon. Click this to show the editing parameters of the mask.

While my picture of the Minnesota sign is better than when I started, it still needs a lot of improvement. The next thing I want to do is set the white balance, but this option is missing from the Adjustments panel.

Instead, you have to use the Curves adjustment, then click the gray point eyedropper. Next, click a neutral or slightly gray portion of your image to counteract any color casts. Note that this process essentially replicates the White Balance function of Lightroom.

One thing you might notice is that the Curves options in Photoshop are much more comprehensive than the Curves options in Lightroom. This should give you an indication of how much more flexibility you have with adjustment layers. You can use Curves to do everything you would do in Lightroom, along with much, much more.

The final operation to fix this image involves a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer. Click on the Hue/Saturation icon to bring up a panel that looks like this:

The key to this panel is the hand icon in the top-left. Click it, then click on a part of your image that you would like to saturate or de-saturate.

In this case, I want to start with the grass below the sign. Clicking and dragging to the right makes it much greener, and gives a sense of vibrance that is sorely missing from the original.

This is a good start, but I need to fix the sky, and that is where a layer-based approach really starts to come in handy.

Instead of editing the sky with the adjustment layer I just created, I can add a new adjustment layer and use that for the sky. This allows me to control my Hue/Saturation edits for individual parts of the image, instead of having just one Hue/Saturation adjustment layer that affects the entire scene.

Minnesota statue with boosted sky colors — The sky colors are now improved. These edits are applied using a layer separate from the grass edits, and thus can be controlled independently.

While the resulting picture is much better than the original, there is still some tweaking that needs to be done for it to truly feel finished.

Adjustment layer masks, explained

Eagle-eyed observers might notice something amiss with the picture above:

The Minnesota sign now has a purple tint to it.

Never fear, adjustment layers are here! Click the white rectangle next to a layer name to edit its mask:

You see, by painting black onto a layer’s mask, you prevent that area of the photo from being affected by the adjustment. So if you don’t want the sign to be affected by the Hue/Saturation adjustment layer, simply paint black over the portion of the mask that covers the sign!

Here’s how it works:

First, select the Brush tool (press B or click the Brush icon in the left-hand toolbar).

Make sure your foreground color is white and your background color is black (to do this quickly, just hit D).

Now it’s time to actually paint the mask. Press the X key to switch between white (revealing) and black (hiding), and the [ and ] keys to increase or decrease the size of the brush.

For tricky shapes like the sign, you can use the Magic Wand tool to select the shape. Then, with the shape still selected, use the Brush tool to mask (remove) the adjustment from that portion of the image.

A closer inspection of the Layers panel now shows a black silhouette over the portion that has been masked out of the top Hue/Saturation adjustment layer. I have also renamed the top two layers so as to accurately describe the type of effect they have on the image.

(Double-click a layer name to rename it, and press Enter when you finish typing.)

Nondestructive editing

One mistake some beginners make when editing images in Photoshop is applying adjustments directly to the original photo. This can be done using the Image>Adjustments menu, which gives you common editing options such as Brightness/Contrast, Hue/Saturation, and more. Unlike adjustment layers, these edits are not easy to work with, nor are they easy to alter once they have been implemented.

Photoshop adjustment layers, on the other hand, are nondestructive. You can tweak and change layers after they have been implemented, and you can easily delete them. That’s why layer adjustments are much more flexible than edits applied directly to an image.

You can perform all manner of custom tweaks and changes to adjustment layers, such as:

Showing/hiding a layer by clicking the eye icon
Editing the adjustment by clicking the light/dark circle icon
Adjusting the opacity of a layer
Changing the blend mode, which adjusts how the layer interacts with layers below it
Adjusting the order of the layers by clicking and dragging
Locking a layer to prevent further changes by clicking the lock icon

Photoshop adjustment layers open up new editing possibilities that simply cannot be achieved in Lightroom. For example, the image of a leaf from the beginning of this article can be altered with a selective color adjustment in a matter of seconds. All I need to do is add a Black & White adjustment layer. I can then select the leaf with the Magic Wand tool and paint over the selection on the layer mask.

leaf in color with black and white background — Adding a selective color black and white effect took about four seconds.

Photoshop adjustment layers: conclusion

If you have a Creative Cloud Photography subscription, you can use Photoshop in addition to Lightroom at no extra charge. Now, if the sheer level of options and buttons in Photoshop makes you want to run to the comfort and safety of Lightroom, I get it. I have been there, too, and I still have that feeling from time to time.

However, learning to use Photoshop adjustment layers is one of the first steps in understanding how powerful and flexible Photoshop can be. If you have not yet tried working with layers, take a moment to test them out. See what layers can do for you.

You might be surprised at how easy it is!

The post Your Quick Guide to Understanding Photoshop Adjustment Layers appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Ringsmuth.

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An Introduction to Working with Layers in Affinity Photo

07 Oct

The post An Introduction to Working with Layers in Affinity Photo appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Kevin Landwer-Johan.

Working with layers in Affinity Photo is very similar to how you work with layers in Adobe Photoshop. So if you are used to Photoshop, the transition to using layers in Affinity Photo is relatively easy.

Are you new to post-processing your photos with software that allows you to use layers? You’re sure to learn some cool new editing tips and tricks as you read through this article.

Being able to stack images, text, shapes, etc., with layers in Affinity Photo provides unlimited scope for creativity. As with any serious image-processing program, the learning curve is steep. There is always more than one series of steps you can take to achieve the same results.

In this article, I’ll introduce you to using layers in Affinity Photo. I’ll show you some of the cool ways you can edit your photos and create graphics that would not be possible without using layers.

Layer basics

When you open an image in Affinity Photo, a new layer is created. This shows in the Layers Panel on the left of your monitor. When you have one layer, you can add new layers and also move them up and down in the Layers Panel.

Any image, shape, or text can be added in a layer. You can continue to stack layers one on top of the other. Layers in Affinity Photo can be resized and cropped so they are different dimensions than the original layer.

The top layer is visible and may hide the layers underneath it, depending on the settings you choose for it. The opacity of the layer can be reduced so that the layer below is revealed.

There are also options to change the blend modes of layers. This means that the layer will interact differently with the layers below it. So if you add a text layer, you can alter how the text looks by changing the blend mode.

affinity photo sample with text and blend modes

Soft light blend mode with text layers in affinity photo

This works very much the same way as it does in Photoshop. But if you are new to this, you’ll have fun as you experiment with the different blend modes and the effects you can create with them.

Adjustment layers in Affinity Photo

With the Layers Panel, there is also a panel labeled Adjustments. This contains 22 items that, when clicked, will add a new adjustment layer to the file you are working on.

Adding an adjustment layer affects the layers underneath. You can create a layer group and include the adjustment layer with the layers you want it to affect.

Here I have added a Channel Mixer adjustment at the top of the layer hierarchy:

The adjustment layer is affecting both the text and the photo.

Here I moved the adjustment layer to group it with the text layer:

To do this, click the adjustment layer and drag it onto the layer you want it to affect.

Adjustment layers are non-destructive. This means that you can turn them on and off and they will not alter your original image. This gives you a lot of room to experiment without permanently editing the photo or other artwork you are working on.

You can use adjustment layers in Affinity Photo to create an unlimited number of effects in your photos. Each layer you add interacts with the layers beneath it. You can also change the blend mode of each adjustment layer independently.

Layer masks

You can mask out a layer or parts of a layer using layer masks. To add a layer mask, click on the icon that looks like a rectangle with a circle in it at the bottom of the Layers Panel. This will add a layer mask to the layer you currently have selected.

Here, I have duplicated my layer with the photo and painted with a black brush to erase the bottom part of the photo. If you make a mistake when you’re painting, you can switch the brush color to white. Then you can simply paint over the area you want to restore and the image will re-appear.

Once you’ve added a mask, you can alter the blend mode and even add further adjustment masks to it.

Here I have changed the blend mode to Multiply and then further darkened the sky by adding a Curves adjustment:

Notice that these changes only affect the layer they are grouped with. So only the sky, which I did not mask out, is altered.

Text layers in Affinity Photo

Affinity Photo enables you to do some innovative and pretty cool things with text layers.

To add a text layer, click on the text icon in the toolbar. By clicking and dragging on your canvas, you can set the size of the text. Once you release the mouse button, you can type and the text will appear at the size you set it to.

By clicking and holding the text icon in the toolbar, you can choose another option. This brings up the Frame Text tool. With this, you can click and drag on your canvas to make a bounding box to add your text inside. You can right-click in the box and select Insert Filler Text to fill your new test box.

You can also do this with any of the shapes in the toolbar menu.

Conclusion

Working with layers opens up whole new realms of creative possibilities for what you can do with your photos. If you are new to post-processing your photos or have been using an app like Lightroom, which has no layers, you have a lot to explore.

Take your time experimenting and familiarize yourself with the many options you have for working with layers in Affinity Photo.

I hope this article has provided you with a little insight into the potential of what you can do with layers. Now it’s up to you to take it beyond the basics and start creating masterpieces.

As you practice and try new things, please let us know in the comments below if you discover an aspect of working with layers in Affinity Photo that you think other readers might like to learn about.

The post An Introduction to Working with Layers in Affinity Photo appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Kevin Landwer-Johan.

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Getting Started with Layers in Capture One Pro

25 Jun

The post Getting Started with Layers in Capture One Pro appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Darina Kopcok.

One reason that Capture One is such a versatile and efficient RAW editor is the ability it gives you to work in Layers. It combines the ease of working in Lightroom with the functionality of Photoshop Layers.

If you’re new to the software, learning to work with layers in Capture One will elevate your photos and help you in creating a more efficient workflow.

Getting Started with Layers in Capture One Pro

What are layers?

Layers help you make targeted adjustments to certain areas of a photo. They are similar to Local Adjustments in Lightroom. You can make tweaks to color, exposure, clarity and other adjustments you’d typically make in a RAW editor, as well as more complicated edits.

Capture One’s Layers tool enables you to combine brush adjustments, gradients, and repairs to masked areas using multiple layers.

How to get started with Layers

The Layers option is indicated by the + Plus Icon in the Layers panel under the Histogram, which can be found in the Exposure tab. Layers can also be found in the top of the screen in the menu bar and has its own dropdown. Click on the Plus icon to create a new layer.

When creating or working on multiple layers, it’s a good idea to name each layer in a way that tells you what adjustments you made to the layer. Double click the layer to rename it.

Notice that if you make a new layer and start making adjustments, nothing will happen to the image. You need to create a Mask to determine where on the layer the adjustments will be applied.

There are different ways to create masks: for this article, I’ll focus on the brush tool to brush in Masks. You can find the brush tool in the lower right of the Layers panel.

You can also use the shortcut B.

To change the settings on the brush, simply right-click on the photo.

Note that a soft brush is usually desired.

The mask can be seen in red and will, by default, only show when you’re actually brushing on the image.

The shortcut M will toggle this setting, to show or hide. You can also choose to keep your Mask on. Options for the Mask are available in the Brush Panel dropdown in the tools panel at the top of the Capture One workspace.

There is also a Layers panel in the Capture One Menu tab. The great thing about Capture One is that there are several places where you can access any given tool all from one workspace, instead of having to switch Modules, as you do in Lightroom.

If you select too much or spill over into an area that you don’t want included in the adjustment, you can select the Erase brush and subtract the area where you didn’t intend to brush. You can also use the shortcut E.

The square bracket keys [ ] on your keyboard will help you change the size of your brush quickly.

Once you have made an adjustment, toggle off the color so you can see the effect, and if you need to make any further adjustments. That’s why it’s a good idea to have the mask show only when you’re brushing over your image.

Notice that every time you brush over the same area, the effect is stronger.

Reduce the opacity if you want to lessen the effect.

Heal Layers

Another type of layer is a Heal layer, which can be used to cover or conceal objects in your photo. It’s a very useful tool when working with layers in Capture One.

Clone Layer will copy pixels from a source point to destination, however, it is not as efficient. The Heal layer is more dynamic; it will update according to changes made to the background layer or other layers.

You can use the Heal layer to fix blemishes by copying and pasting pixels from a different part of the images.

To start a new Heal layer, choose New Heal layer from the dropdown beside the Plus icon or choose it from the choices in the left-hand dropdown over where your named layers are located.

Using Healing requires you to create a source point.

Create source point by clicking Alt and then clicking once on the photo.

Heal layers will intelligently blend the area with surrounding pixels.

Now brush on the photo.

It will take the area from the source point and cover the object or blemish.

If the appearance of the target area does not match the surrounding pixels, click on the source point and drag it anywhere within the same image in the Viewer.

Conclusion

Capture One is a powerful program that can help take your editing to the next level. The ability to work with layers in Capture One is one way to do that. If you’ve been on the fence about whether to make the switch from Lightroom, they have a free 30-day trial available for you to check out.

The post Getting Started with Layers in Capture One Pro appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Darina Kopcok.

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Photoshop Adjustment Layers Explained and How to Use Them (Part 2)

08 Dec

The post Photoshop Adjustment Layers Explained and How to Use Them (Part 2) appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Nisha Ramroop.

Part 1 of How to Use Photoshop Adjustment Layers introduced you to the first eight of the adjustment layer type editing tools, which allow you to work non-destructively. Here, we continue to look at some of the other tools available as Adjustment Layers.

Photoshop Adjustment Layers Explained and How to Use Them (Part 2)

1. Photo Filter

Did you know that there are colored filters that you place in front of your camera lens that alter the color temperature and balance of your final image? Well, the Photo Filter adjustment layer adds a color filter to your image similar to this.

There are many preset photo filters in Photoshop, but the most common are those that make your image warm or cool. You can further tweak each preset to your liking. For instance, you can change the density of the effect easily using the Density slider. There is also the Preserve Luminosity box to check so that the applied filter does not darken your image.

You can also choose an exact color that you would like to overlay as a filter by clicking on “color” and chosing from the color menu or by using the eyedropper tool to chose a color from your image.

Warm (oranges) and Cool (Blues) Photo filters applied to the image above

2. Channel Mixer

The Channel Mixer Photoshop Adjustment Layer is another great tool to create stunning black and white and tinted images.

The principle is similar to that used by the Black and White Adjustment Layer. In each of these, you can adjust the displayed grayscale image by changing the tonal values of the color elements of the image.

There are three channels in the RGB view: red, green and blue. Note: The source channel is the one that defaults to 100%. The Channel Mixer, therefore, allows you to combine and mix the best of each channel. It does this by adding (or subtracting) grayscale data from your source channel to another channel.

Also, of note, adding more color to a channel gives you a negative value and vice versa. Hence, at the end of your edit, it is advisable that all your numbers total 100%.

Photoshop Adjustment Layers Explained and How to Use Them (Part 2)

The Channel Mixer also allows you to exaggerate color and make creative color adjustments to your image.

3. Color Lookup

The Color Lookup adjustment layer uses presets to instantly color grade or change the “look” of your image. The presets are called LUTs or lookup tables. Each lookup table contains specific instructions for Photoshop to remap the colors in your image to a different set of colors to create the selected look.

Applying the Late Sunset LUT creates a dramatic finish

When you choose the Color Lookup Adjustment Layer, three options are available to you: 3DLUT File, Abstract and Device Link.

Most of the presets reside under the 3DLUT File option. Of note, 3D (in 3DLUT) refers to Photoshop’s RGB color channels (and not three-dimension).

Late Sunset LUT applied at 60% opacity for a more realistic finish

Furthermore, LUTS are available for download from various websites or you can create your own LUT.

4. Invert

The Invert Photoshop Adjustment Layer is self-explanatory. It inverts the colors and is an easy way to make a negative of your image for an interesting effect.

The first image with colors inverted gives a surreal otherworldly effect

5. Posterize

Looking for a flat, poster-like finish? The Posterize Adjustment Layer gives you that by reducing the number of brightness values available in your image.

You can make an image have as much or as little detail as you like by selecting the number in the levels slider. The higher the number, the more detail your image has. The lower the number, the less detail your image has.

This can come in handy when you want to screenprint your image. You can limit the tones of black and white. This is also true of the Threshold Adjustment Layer.

Posterize Adjustment Layer

6. Threshold

When you select Threshold from your Photoshop Adjustment Layers list, your image changes to black and white. By changing the Threshold Level value, you control the number of pixels that are black or white.

Threshold Adjustment Layer

7. Gradient Map

The Gradient Map lets you map different colors to different tones in your image. The gradient fill, therefore, sets the colors representing both the shadow tones on one end and highlight tones on the other end of the gradient.

Likewise, checking the “Reverse” box swaps around the colors of your gradient. This means that the shadow colors are moved to the highlights end and vice versa.

A good rule of thumb is to keep your shadows dark and your highlights brighter for ease of reference.

Photoshop Adjustment Layers Explained and How to Use Them (Part 2)

Your gradient map also makes available many presets that are adjustable via the gradient editor window. Additionally, you can also define/create your own gradients by changing the slider colors.

8. Selective Color

Use the Selective Color Adjustment Layer to modify specific amounts of a primary color without modifying other primary colors in your image. Check the Absolute box if you want to adjust the color in absolute values.

Example: If you have a pixel that is 50% yellow and you add 10%, you are now at a 60% total. The Relative box is a little more complicated as it would adjust the yellow pixel only by the percentage it contributes to the total. Using the same example, if you add 10% to the yellow slider (with relative checked), it actually adds 50% of the 10%, which brings your total to 55%. Relative, therefore, gives you a more subtle effect.

Photoshop Adjustment Layers Explained and How to Use Them (Part 2)

However, when it comes to this editing tool, the potential is far beyond this simplistic edit technique. You can use it to correct skin tones and for general toning.

While selective color adjustments are similar to hue/saturation adjustments, there are subtle differences. Selective Color allows you to subtract/add color values, whereas Hue/Saturation does not.

The Hue/Saturation adjustment allows you to work with a range of hues that are included with the six color ranges in Selective Color, so there is more control there if you need it.

Conclusion

These basic examples of how to use the Photoshop Adjustment Layers tools merely scratch the surface of their capabilities. Certainly, you will appreciate editing non-destructively, whether you are just starting out or advanced with adjustment layers.

Some of the adjustment layers seem similar, but each has its differences and its pros and cons. Either way, there are many possibilities of playing around with your image, while preserving the original.

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out Part 1 in this series.

Do you use Photoshop Adjustment Layers? If so, which ones do you use and why? Share with us in the comments.

The post Photoshop Adjustment Layers Explained and How to Use Them (Part 2) appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Nisha Ramroop.

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Photoshop Adjustment Layers Explained and How to Use Them (Part 1)

02 Dec

The post Photoshop Adjustment Layers Explained and How to Use Them (Part 1) appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Nisha Ramroop.

Photoshop Adjustment Layers Explained and How to Use Them (Part 1)

If you use Photoshop, you probably already know that layers are a great non-destructive way to edit. Within the realm of layers, there exists a group of very useful editing tools called Adjustment Layers that allows for easy editing of your images. As with most Photoshop tools, there are several ways to achieve the same result. When you use Photoshop adjustment layers (as with other layer types), you can make changes, save it as a Photoshop file (PSD) and undo/change it many years later. Since no pixels are destroyed or changed, your original image stays intact. Let’s take a look at the basics of using Photoshop Adjustment Layers.

Accessing Photoshop Adjustment Layers

There are two ways to access Photoshop Adjustment Layers.

1. To access via the Layers Menu; choose Layer->New Adjustment Layer, and choose one of the many adjustment types (which are expanded upon below).

photoshop-adjustment-layers-explained

2. To access via the Layers Panel; click on the half black/half white circle at the bottom of the Layers Panel, and choose the adjustment type you want to work with.

Photoshop Adjustment Layers Explained and How to Use Them (Part 1)

Adjustment Layer Types

1. Brightness and Contrast

Brightness and Contrast allow you to make simple adjustments to the brightness and contrast levels within your photo. When you adjust brightness, the overall lightness (or darkness) of each pixel in your frame is changed. To increase a photo’s tonal values and increase the highlights, slide the Brightness to the right. To decrease a photo’s tonal values and increase the shadows, slide the Brightness to the left.

Contrast, however, adjusts the difference between the brightness of the elements in your image. Thus, if you increase brightness you make every pixel lighter, whereas if you increase contrast you make the light areas lighter and the dark areas darker.

photoshop-adjustment-layers-explained

2. Levels

The levels tool adjusts the tonal range and color balance of your image. It does this by adjusting the intensity levels of the shadows, mid-tones, and highlights in your image. Levels Presets can be saved and then easily applied to further images.

Of note, if you use the Image menu to open the levels tool (Image->Adjustments->Levels) a separate layer will not be created and the changes will be committed directly (destructively) to your image layer. Thus, I recommend using the Adjustment Layers menu (as shown above) to access this very useful tool.

Photoshop Adjustment Layers Explained and How to Use Them (Part 1)

3. Curves

While the Levels adjustment allows you to adjust all the tones proportionally in your image, the Curves adjustment lets you choose the section of the tonal scale you want to change. On the Levels graph, the upper-right area represents the highlights, while the lower-left area represents the shadows.

Use either of these adjustments (levels or curves) to correct your tone when your image’s contrast is off (either too low or high).

The Levels Adjustment works well if you need to apply a global adjustment to your tone. To apply more selective adjustments, you are better off using Curves. This includes adjustments to just a small section of the tonal range or if you only want to adjust light or dark tones.

photoshop-adjustment-layers-explained

4. Exposure

When you think of exposing an image properly, you are concerned with capturing the ideal brightness, which will give you details in both the highlights and shadows. In Photoshop Adjustment Layers, the Exposure Adjustment has three sliders that adjust Exposure, Offset and Gamma.

Use the Exposure slider to adjust the highlights of the image, the Offset slider for the mid-tones and the Gamma to target the dark tones only.

Photoshop Adjustment Layers Explained and How to Use Them (Part 1)

5. Vibrance

Use the Vibrance Adjustment Layer to boost the duller colors in your image. The great thing about increasing vibrance is that it focuses on the less-saturated areas and does not affect colors that are already saturated.

Vibrance adjusts only the duller colors in an image

Look at the difference in the greens between this image and the one above. Saturation adjusts all the colors (and tonal range) in an image.

6. Hue/Saturation

Hue and Saturation, allows you to change the overall color hue of your image, as well as how saturated the color is.

You can change the hue (color) of your entire image by keeping “Master” selected in the dropdown (this is set by default). Alternatively, you can pinpoint the color you would like to change the hue of. You can choose from Reds, Yellows, Greens, Cyan, Blues or Magentas.

In addition to adjusting the obvious hue and color saturation of your image, this Photoshop Adjustment Layer allows you to adjust the lightness of your entire image as well as work with specified colors. Keep in mind that changing the overall saturation of an image affects your tonal range.

Use the Hue Adjustment to get creative

Color Balance

The Color Balance Adjustment layer is used to change the overall mixture of colors in an image and works well for color correction.

Color Balance adjusted for the mid-tones to include more red

You first need to select either Shadows, Midtones or Highlights, to choose the tonal range you want to change.

Check the Preserve Luminosity box to preserve your luminosity values (brightness or darkness) and maintain the tonal balance as you change the color in your image. Move your slider toward the color you want to increase and away from the color you wish to decrease.

Black and White

As the name implies, the Black and White adjustment layer allows you to easily take your images to a grayscale version or apply a color tint entirely.

There are many ways to achieve black and white image processing. The Black and White Photoshop Adjustment Layer is one of the better ones. It allows you to lighten or darken specific color ranges to enhance your black and white conversion. Example: If you want the blues of your color image to stand out more when converted to black and white, simply toggle that slider. You can add more or less contrast by making particular colors lighter or darker.

1. When you choose the Black & White Adjustment Layer, you get a default black & white conversion 2. You can tweak the image based on selective colors. In this example, the blues and yellows were adjusted 3. You can apply a tint (of any color) over the entire image by ticking the Tint box and selecting the color you wish to overlay.

Important Note: While most of these adjustments are available under the Image menu (Image->Adjustments), using them from there does not work the same. The main difference is that these are applied directly to the image (destructively) as opposed to when done under Adjustment Layers. When done under Adjustment Layers, you can turn the adjustment on and off by selecting and deselecting the “eye” in the layers panel.

Conclusion

Photoshop Adjustment Layers are a great group of tools that allow you to smartly edit your image in a non-destructive way. Your original pixels are preserved, so you are able to come back and change your edits years later. Thus, they give you the power to undo easier and work more efficiently.

Photoshop Adjustment Layers group together the most common editing tasks, along with a few others to help you bring your images to life.

In Part 2, we will explore some other tools in the Adjustment suite.

Share with us in the comments your favorite adjustment tool and how you use them.

The post Photoshop Adjustment Layers Explained and How to Use Them (Part 1) appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Nisha Ramroop.

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Photoshop Layers for Beginners – What, When and How to Use them Best

03 Nov

The post Photoshop Layers for Beginners – What, When and How to Use them Best appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Nisha Ramroop.

This introduction to Photoshop Layers for beginners will help you learn a great editing habit. So, what exactly is a Photoshop layer? Quite simply put, if you imagine a stack of transparent paper, each sheet is equivalent to a Photoshop layer. When you add/change/remove any of the layers, what you see at the top of the stack forms your entire image.

The first time you open Photoshop, by default, the layers panel is on the right side of your screen and your image opens as a layer named “Background”. Keep this in mind as you read on.

Photoshop Layers for Beginners – What, When and How to Use them Best

Why use Photoshop Layers?

Now that you have an idea of what a layer is, here is why you should use them:

1. It is a way to work non-destructively

Destructive editing occurs when you move and change the pixels directly in your original image. This happens if you edit your original image/background layer when working in Photoshop. While you can undo your changes, if you exceed the number of “undos” you can apply, those changes commit. Also, you may like some changes, but not others, and there is no way to go back to just that change without undoing other changes you have made too.

Alternatively, when you edit your image on separate layers, both the edited image and the original save (they are saved to a .psd file and this maintains all your layers). This allows you to go back to your original image at any time, simply by hiding layers, or deleting them entirely. This is a form of non-destructive editing.

One thing to remember, however, is that if you resize your entire document (via menu->image->image resize) at any point, that is a form of destructive editing, and you will lose image quality if you try to resize it back to the original size later.

As your editing style evolves, you will appreciate the option of going back to original images at a later date.

Easily add text without affecting your original image

2. It allows organized and flexible editing

Photoshop is usually a great option when you want more control over your editing process. While you start off with a certain end result in mind, you may change your mind, during (or even at the completion of) your process. Surely there are better ways than undoing multiple changes or starting over from scratch right?

Enter, layers.

Since your original image is unaffected, you can change the text at a later date

Layers allow you to work with your vision without affecting/destroying the original. Since you can work on each layer separately, you have major flexibility. With layers, you can also combine several images into one (composite), These include (but is not limited to), swapping out elements from your image, changing color, tones, and lighting, adding text and resizing, replacing or rotating an object independent of everything else in your image.

You can use layers to replace a plain sky

This non-destructive editing style allows you to undo a change at any point in time, and you have control over each individual layer. This means you can work with different objects and elements of your image without affecting anything else.

How to use Photoshop Layers

If you do not see the Layers Panel on the right-hand of your screen, you need to turn it on. To do so, go to Menu->Window->Layers.

As mentioned before, when you open an image in Photoshop, it opens as a background layer. You will notice that there is a small lock icon on the right side of the background layer. This lock is intended to prevent inadvertent changes.

The first step is usually to duplicate this layer. That way, the background layer remains untouched (original).

Photoshop Layers for Beginners – What, When and How to Use them Best

To start, duplicate your background layer:

Open an image in Photoshop
Right-click on the thumbnail image in your layers panel named “Background,” and choose the duplicate layer option
Click OK. A new layer will appear above your original layer with the default name “Background Copy” – you can rename it to anything you want. I suggest renaming it to something that relates to the changes you are making. This makes it easier to find later if you have many layers.

photoshop-layers-for-beginners

As you become comfortable working with layers, you will find yourself making new layers for each change you want to make e.g. if you are retouching an image or replacing a sky. This comes with the knowledge that, later on, you can adjust the intensity of any of those changes independently.

I used Layers for Sky Replacement, with a Layer Mask to recover the top branches

Adjustment Layers

Photoshop also has another layer type called Adjustment Layers. These layers are not a duplicate of other layers; instead, they adjust the information of the layer directly beneath it. Thus you can simply use an Adjustment Layer to effect change on the image without changing the original layer image. For example, you can increase/decrease the contrast or brightness of your layer.

Notice how adjustment layers look different from other layer types. These adjust the layer below them.

Adjustment layers do not actually contain any pixels but instead are a series of instructions for Photoshop on what changes you ask it to make. You can access the Adjustments Layer menu at the bottom of the Layers panel or choose Windows and check the Adjustments option.

Layer Masks

A Layer mask is another non-destructive editing technique in Photoshop, used to control the transparency of the layer you apply it to. An even simpler definition is that a layer mask can make a layer visible or invisible. This is done by painting either white (to make it visible) or black (to make it invisible).

photoshop-layers-for-beginners

Blending Modes

At the upper left corner of the Layers panel is the blend modes drop-down menu. These “modes” are set to Normal by default and control how pixels on the different layers interact with each other. An easy way to understand what the different blending modes do is to duplicate your image (as described above) and cycle through them.

An example of how different blend modes change the look and feel of your image: 1. Normal 2. Multiply 3. Soft Light 4. Vivid Light 5. Hue 6. Luminosity

Important layering notes for beginners

When there are several layers, your changes only affect the layer that is active or selected. This is why it is a good practice to name your layer (Step 3 above) based on what you are using the layer for.

You can save the edits as a Photoshop (PSD) file, close it and open it at a later date to find all your layers (and changes) as you left it. Of note, saving it this way increases the size of your file. If you are finished with your edits and don’t need a large PSD file, you can merge all the layers (or flatten the file) and save it to a smaller, more compressed file type, such as a jpeg. Of course, in doing so, you will no longer have the ability to access those individual layers later.

Layers work in order. This means that the layer on top “covers” everything below it. You can, however, reorder your layers by moving them up or down by simply dragging them. Keep in mind that the layer on the top will be most visible.

photoshop-layers-for-beginners

Conclusion

The key thing to remember as a beginner is that Photoshop layers are a recommended non-destructive way to work. It is flexible, which allows you to organize your work, effect change in selected areas, and undo changes easily.

When you do not merge your layers, you can open your Photoshop file years later and make changes, all without affecting your original image.

I hope you can utilize these Photoshop Layers for Beginners tips, and if you have any tips on this topic, please share in the comments below.

The post Photoshop Layers for Beginners – What, When and How to Use them Best appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Nisha Ramroop.

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Photoshop Basics: Working with Layers

01 Oct

Photoshop. For photographers, web developers and graphic designers alike, its the go-to program for creating and editing professional grade graphics. And like every beloved piece of software, it has to have a strong foundation to build upon; a base system that supports all other operations. For Photoshop, it’s layers. Operations we describe here are applicable to all Creative Suite versions Continue Reading

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Hasselblad Phocus 3.4 update adds new shadow/highlights tool, adjustment layers, more

07 Dec

Hasselblad has released an update to its medium format post-production program Phocus. Focus version 3.4 adds improvements across the board, including improved shadow and highlight tools, new adjustment layer tools, expanded live view options, new lens profile, and more.

The enhanced Shadow Fill and Highlight Recovery tools have been ‘significantly enhanced.’ Hasselblad says the updated algorithm ‘enables photographers to fully utilize the dynamic range available in their images,’ although exactly how it’s changed remains a mystery. In the event the updated methodology isn’t what a user wants, or the a user is working with previously-corrected images, Hasselblad has also included the old algorithm under a selectable version option.

Hasselblad has added Shadow Fill and Clarity options to the adjustment layer tools so they can now be used as local adjustments with the brush tool and linear and radial gradients. A new Detail tool has also been added under the exposure toolset. This new tool is used alongside the Clarity tool to fine-tune the local contrast in an image.

Focus 3.4 also includes a new Live View Aperture option that lets users ‘to automatically open to the widest aperture possible or to use the selected aperture instead when activating live view.’

Also new is an updated Noise Filter tool and additional lens profiles for the following lenses:

• XCD 2,8/65
• XCD 1,9/80
• XCD 2,8/135 with X Converter 1.7

To download Hasselblad Phocus 3.4, head over to Hasselblad’s Phocus download page.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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How to do Creative Editing with Layers in ACDSee Ultimate Photo Studio 2018

20 Jun

In my first article on ACDSee Ultimate Photo Studio 2018, I covered all the elements of the program that a beginner would need to know about. This article covers editing in more detail, starting with processing your RAW file in Develop Mode and then doing some creative editing using Layers in Edit Mode.

Layers are a critical part of editing your images. Either in doing your RAW process and then tidying up areas that need it with curves, levels, and other adjustments. Or if you want to add more creativity to your images, with textures, decorative flourishes, fancy text embellishments. Finally, you can go all the way up to compositing, and using layers is the best way to achieve that.

textured image of flowers - How to Edit Using Layers with ACDSee Ultimate Photo Studio 2018

Let’s look at what ACDSee Ultimate Photo Studio 2018 has to offer for editing a RAW file. Then we’ll add a creative edit with texture layers, embellishment layers, and using masks to create a vintage grunge effect.

I am going to assume that you have a basic understanding of RAW editing and using layers and masks and not detail absolutely every step worked through in this process. If you need more help, go back and read: ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate 2018 Guide for Beginners first.

Editing a Raw File in Develop Mode

First, open up Manage mode and find the right folder to select an image. For this exercise, I liked the Gerbera Still Life image and decided that the final version should have a grungy vintage look added at the end.

How to Edit Using Layers with ACDSee Ultimate Photo Studio 2018 - image thumbnails

This is the selected image of three crimson gerbera flowers, with a pair of pointe ballet shoes and some sheet music. It’s a bit dark and dull and needs some tweaking which we will do in the Develop mode of ACDSee Ultimate Photo Studio 2018.

original image before editing - How to Edit Using Layers with ACDSee Ultimate Photo Studio 2018

Original unedited RAW file

After some basic editing, the image is brighter and the colors are better balanced.

How to Edit Using Layers with ACDSee Ultimate Photo Studio 2018 - edited with basic adjustments

However my final vision for this image is more of a vintage look, and the colors are too bright and rich. So, further editing to bring the saturation down and darken the crimson was applied. This now provides the basis for the layers and creative elements, so it’s saved and then we move into Edit mode.

How to Edit Using Layers with ACDSee Ultimate Photo Studio 2018 - image with lower saturation

Creative Editing Using Layers

Switching to Edit Mode by clicking on EDIT with the edited RAW file open will change your workspace. Now the Layers palette is laid out on the right. As there is only the one image open, it shows up as Layer 1.

At the bottom of the Layers palette are the different layer options – hover over each one to find the one you need and click to activate it. For this exercise, we are going to bring in some grunge textures and additional elements to make it look vintage, old, and more artistic.

Textures

I use a lot of textures from 2LilOwls, The Daily Texture, and Distressed Textures. If you are patient you can also make your own but there are plenty of places to acquire them online. The ones used in this article were from 2LilOwls.

How to Edit Using Layers with ACDSee Ultimate Photo Studio 2018

My preferred option to add extra layers is to use a second monitor, open up Windows Explorer to the desired folder, find a texture I like and then drag across to my image. Note, when using ACDSee, you have to drag it into the Layers Palette (rather than onto the image directly).

The other option is to click on the “Add A File As A Layer” button which allows you to search for a file within your directory and add it. This was a useful feature which I used several times.

By default, the texture is applied in Normal mode which means only the top layer is visible, which is the texture in this instance. In the Layer Palette it is visible as Layer 2.

How to Edit Using Layers with ACDSee Ultimate Photo Studio 2018 - texture layer

The first texture layer has been added – it’s showing in Normal mode so you can only see this layer and not the one below (the image of the flowers).

Blend Mode

Next, change the blend mode of the layer to something that suits the image – either Overlay or Soft Light are good choices to start with. Also, dial down the layer opacity to soften the effect and make it look more pleasing.

How to Edit Using Layers with ACDSee Ultimate Photo Studio 2018

Masking parts of the layer

This texture has some heavy vignetting around the edges that is a bit too dark. So to solve that, add a Layer Mask and select a large soft brush at around 30% opacity. Dab the brush in the darker edges and corners to reduce the effect.

How to Edit Using Layers with ACDSee Ultimate Photo Studio 2018

The Layer mask is white and it shows up the areas you brush in grey (or black) – you can see where it has been applied in the corners.

Image with texture and layer mask applied with softer tones in the dark corners now

Add more grunge

It needs more grunge so let’s apply a second texture layer. This one has lots of cracks and scratches for a nice vintage effect. It is also a bit lighter around the edges so should balance out the first texture nicely.

How to Edit Using Layers with ACDSee Ultimate Photo Studio 2018

The texture file is a different size than the original image but you can drag it out to fit by clicking on the yellow squares on the outside edges and corners.

This layer also had the blend mode changed and the opacity adjusted to suit. The crack effect was quite strong on the flowers so a mask was applied with a soft brush at low opacity that was brushed over the flowers.

More embellishments

The top left and right corners felt a bit empty so I added some decorative embellishments. On the left, is a butterfly with some fancy handwriting and another textural element was added on the right. Both are PNG files that are blended in with low opacity and Soft Light blend mode.

layers - How to Edit Using Layers with ACDSee Ultimate Photo Studio 2018

Each element goes onto a separate layer for full control. Masks are applied to remove the effect from the flowers. These become Layers 6 and 7.

Finally, a Photo Effect (Somber) was applied to add a bit more contrast and punch.

How to Edit Using Layers with ACDSee Ultimate Photo Studio 2018 - photo effect

Before and after images

Here we have the RAW file after it was edited in Develop mode and some creative adjustments for Saturation and Vibrance applied.

before layered editing - How to Edit Using Layers with ACDSee Ultimate Photo Studio 2018

Here we have the final image after the texture layers, embellishments, Photo Effect and masks have been applied.

How to Edit Using Layers with ACDSee Ultimate Photo Studio 2018 - final image

Additional Notes

As an advanced Photoshop user, I was comfortable using all the layer tools and functions available in ACDSee Ultimate Photo Studio 2018. Most of the usual tools were available and functioned as expected.

The one major issue I found was the inability to change the brush shape. It does not appear possible to import .abr files to add creative brush shapes. The only options for changing the brush are blend mode, size, and opacity and the only shape is round.

You can change the size, hardness, and opacity of the brush but not the actual shape of it. This limits the creative choices available. Some of my brush files were present as PNG images so I was able to import them as individual layers.

Additionally, there were several extra features that were new to me which I found useful. The “Add A File As A Layer” button was extremely helpful and I used that on several occasions. There is also a button for “Adding a Blank Layer”, “Duplicating a Layer” and “Deleting a Layer”. All things that happen frequently and usually require a right mouse click, then a selection and second click. ACDSee made these steps much quicker with a single click.

There were extra adjustment layer functions, in particular, “Photo Effect” that offer a range of predesigned creative effects you can apply as a separate layer, to blend and edit as desired. A Vignette option (similar to Lightroom) was also available to quickly add a vignette.

Conclusion

If you are a beginner to using layers and masks then it can be a bit complicated to get your head around. The good news is that with ACDSee Ultimate Photo Studio 2018 everything that you would expect to be able to do and use to work with layers is all present and accounted for. It looks and functions very similar to Photoshop, so is comfortable for anyone transitioning over.

Except for the ability to change your brush shape, everything necessary to do a basic layer edit was easily recognizable and usable with pretty much no additional learning curve. That is a real bonus for anyone coming across from other programs.

There are also some nice new features that added extra value and made the experience better – in particular, “Add A File As A Layer” is something that I could easily get used to using. For anyone only using one monitor (like on a laptop) that makes adding another image as a layer so much easier. The Move function in Photoshop is really not user-friendly. This is a definite bonus if you are like me and add lots of extra files to your layers when editing.

Working in Edit mode and making a layered image with ACDSee Ultimate Photo Studio 2018 was not difficult and the additional features added real value in unexpected places.

Disclaimer: ACDSee is a dPS advertising partner.

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How to Make a Composite Wine Bottle Image using Photoshop Layers

19 May

A wine bottle is always a tricky subject to photograph. The highly reflective nature of the glass makes it hard to use frontal lighting, while backlighting will not reach the label.

In short, the perfect light for the glass will usually not work for the label and vice-versa, often leading to the capture of various images that are later on composited in post-production, creating the final image in this manner.

Photograph wine bottle composite

In this article, I will show you step-by-step, how this image was photographed and composited using Photoshop.

Image capture

This image was photographed with a full frame DSLR, a 100mm macro lens, and two speedlights.

wine bottle photograph seen in the camera - How to Make a Composite Wine Bottle Image using Photoshop

One of the speedlights was fitted with a yellow filter, this provided the background light. The other speedlight was fitted on a stripbox and provided the light on the bottle in different positions for different shots.

Light areas

Planning ahead and deciding which areas to light are key factors for the success of the final image composite.
In this particular image, the areas that were lit for each image were as follows:

The label
Gold logo
The embossed letters
Light side light
The background

Photograph wine bottle composite 03

None of these images look good by themselves, but each adds its own contribution for the final result.

Raw image development

This is the stage where the Raw images are processed and the basic adjustments are applied. I start by adjusting the “background” image which will be the base for the composite.

Even though the yellow filter used on the speedlight created a nice warm tone on the image background, I decided to make that tone even warmer, adjusting the yellow and green hue to orange, giving it a vintage ambiance.

Photograph wine bottle composite 04

The compositing process

After developing the RAW images, it’s now time to start merging all of the different images.

I start by opening the “Background” image and giving it some basic corrections, like completing the right edge reflection with the clone stamp.

Photograph wine bottle composite 05

Next, I load the “Embossed Letters” image as a new layer that will stay on top of the “Background” layer and start the compositing process. For this process to work, it is imperative that all the images have the same framing and neither the camera or the object is displaced between shots.

Layers and masking

Even though there are many ways to create a composite in Adobe Photoshop, my favorite, and the one that allows more control, is the layer mask function.

This masking process hides parts of the image while revealing the information that exists on the underlying layer. Just click on the layer mask icon in the layer panel, and a mask will be added to the selected layer. It might look complicated but it is, in fact, a simple process.

White areas of the mask show what is on that layer, black areas show what is on the underlying layer (think of it as a hole you look through to see the layer below).

Photograph wine bottle composite 06

In this particular case, it is easier to invert the mask from white to black (Image>Adjustments>Invert) and paint in the areas you want to reveal from that layer by using a white brush.

The exact same process was applied to the “label” and “gold Logo” layers. The “Left Side Light” layer was used to create just a fine rim light on the left edge of the bottle and give it a better separation from the background.

Photograph wine bottle composite 07

Refinements

Now that it all starts to look much better, with all the bits and pieces that were used from each layer to form the composited image. So it is time to pay attention to the small details like small imperfections on the bottle, smudges or dust specs that may need to be fixed.

Photograph wine bottle composite 08

A higher zoom (100% or 1:1) will likely reveal problems that need to be solved.

The icing on the cake

Even though I could consider the image editing process finished by now, there is still a small but really important detail in my opinion – the table’s smooth wooden texture was not the right fit for the look I was trying to achieve.

So, the right thing to do was to photograph an old beat up piece of wood that would fit the look of the overall image and replace the existing tabletop.

Photograph wine bottle composite 09

Now I load it as a layer on the final image and use the perspective command (Edit>Transform>Perspective) to adjust the flat wood image to match the perspective of the tabletop.

Photograph wine bottle composite 10

And for the final touch, I changed the blending mode of the “Wood” layer to darken, in order to make it blend smoothly with rest of the scene.

Photograph wine bottle composite 11

Final thoughts

Even though I always try to get things as right as possible during the photography process, and leave as little as possible for the post-processing phase, the truth is that this compositing technique amazes me every time I try it. It is incredible the amount of detail control it offers.

Give it a try, I am sure you will be amazed too.

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