Basic Image Adjustments in Photoshop

Learning Objectives

By the end of this chapter, you'll be able to:

1. Use adjustment layers to modify brightness, contrast, and colour without harming your original image
2. Apply these adjustments effectively to enhance your photos
3. Understand when each adjustment works best
4. Build confidence with non-destructive editing techniques

Introduction

Getting your brightness, contrast, and colour right can make or break a photo. Too dark and you lose detail. Too bright and everything looks washed out. Wrong colours and the whole mood shifts.

The good news is that Photoshop gives you powerful tools to fix these issues without touching your original image. This chapter shows you how to use adjustment layers to make these changes safely. You can tweak, experiment, and even start over without any damage.

These are fundamental skills that every photo editor needs. Once you've got them down, you'll have a solid base for everything else Photoshop can do.

Lessons

Understanding Adjustment Layers

Think of adjustment layers as transparent sheets that sit on top of your image. They change how your photo looks without actually changing the photo itself. You can adjust them, turn them off, or delete them completely.

Here's how to create one:

Step 1: Open your image in Photoshop

Step 2: Look for the Layers panel on the right side of your screen

Step 3: Click the half-filled circle icon at the bottom of the Layers panel (this is the 'New Adjustment Layer' button)

Step 4: Choose the type of adjustment you want from the menu

Your adjustment layer appears above your image layer. The beauty of this system is that your original image stays untouched. You can come back later and change your mind without any problems.

Adjusting Brightness and Contrast

Brightness controls how light or dark your image appears overall. Contrast controls the difference between the lightest and darkest parts of your image.

Step 1: Create a Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer

Step 2: In the Properties panel, drag the Brightness slider left to darken or right to lighten

Step 3: Drag the Contrast slider left to soften the image or right to make it more punchy

Start with small adjustments. It's easy to go overboard and lose detail in your highlights or shadows.

Watch your image as you make changes. If bright areas start looking completely white or dark areas turn solid black, you've pushed too far.

Working with Colour

Colour adjustments can fix problems or create a specific mood. The Hue/Saturation adjustment layer is your main tool here.

Step 1: Create a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer

Step 2: Use the Hue slider to shift colours. Moving right makes blues more purple, greens more blue, and so on

Step 3: Use the Saturation slider to make colours more vivid (right) or more muted (left)

Step 4: Use the Lightness slider sparingly. It can flatten your image quickly

For colour correction, small hue adjustments often fix colour casts from different lighting. For creative work, bigger changes can create interesting effects.

Making Targeted Adjustments

Sometimes you only want to adjust part of your image. Adjustment layers come with built-in masks that make this possible.

Step 1: Create your adjustment layer as normal

Step 2: Make sure the white mask thumbnail is selected (it has a border around it)

Step 3: Choose a black brush from the toolbar

Step 4: Paint over areas where you don't want the adjustment to show

Black hides the adjustment, white reveals it. Grey gives you partial effects.

This technique works brilliantly for brightening faces while leaving backgrounds alone, or boosting the colour in a sunset without affecting the rest of the photo.

Practice

Take a photo that looks a bit flat or has colour issues. Create separate adjustment layers for brightness/contrast and hue/saturation. Try these exercises:

1. Make the image brighter without losing detail in bright areas
2. Add contrast to make it more dramatic
3. Adjust colours to remove any unwanted colour cast
4. Use layer masks to apply different adjustments to different parts of the image

Notice how each change affects the mood and impact of your photo.

FAQs

Do I need lots of Photoshop experience for this?
No, this chapter starts from the basics. Just follow the steps and you'll pick it up quickly.

Will these techniques work on any photo?
Yes, brightness, contrast, and colour adjustments help almost any digital image.

What if I make a mistake?
That's the beauty of adjustment layers. You can always change the settings, turn off the layer, or delete it completely.

My adjustments look too strong. How do I tone them down?
Lower the opacity of your adjustment layer using the slider at the top of the Layers panel.

Jargon Buster

Adjustment Layer: A special layer that changes how your image looks without changing the actual image data

Non-destructive Editing: Making changes that don't permanently alter your original image

Layer Mask: A black and white mask that controls where an adjustment layer takes effect

Hue: The actual colour (red, blue, green, etc.)

Saturation: How vivid or intense a colour appears

Contrast: The difference between the lightest and darkest parts of an image

Wrap-up

You now know how to use adjustment layers to control brightness, contrast, and colour in your photos. These are the building blocks of good photo editing.

The key points to remember:

• Adjustment layers keep your original image safe
• Small changes often work better than dramatic ones
• Layer masks let you control exactly where adjustments happen
• You can always come back and fine-tune your settings

Practice these techniques on different types of photos. The more you use adjustment layers, the more natural they'll become. Next, you'll learn more advanced techniques that build on these foundations.

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