Colour and Tone Adjustments in Photoshop
Learning Objectives
By the end of this chapter, you'll be able to:
- Adjust brightness, contrast, curves, hue, and saturation in Photoshop effectively
- Use AI-powered tools to enhance your colour correction workflow
- Combine traditional manual adjustments with AI assistance for better results
- Apply these techniques to fix common colour and tone problems in your images
Introduction
Getting colours and tones right can make or break your photos. Adobe Photoshop gives you powerful tools to fix these issues, from basic brightness tweaks to advanced curve adjustments. The newer AI features can speed up your workflow too, but knowing when to use manual controls versus letting the AI help is key.
This chapter covers the essential colour and tone tools you'll use most often. We'll start with the basics and work up to more advanced techniques, showing you how AI tools fit into the process.
Lessons
Lesson 1: Basic Brightness and Contrast Adjustments
Getting your exposure right is usually the first step in any edit. Here's how to tackle brightness and contrast issues:
Step 1: Open your image in Photoshop.
Step 2: Go to Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast.
Step 3: Tick the Preview box so you can see changes as you make them.
Step 4: Drag the Brightness slider right to lighten or left to darken your image.
Step 5: Use the Contrast slider to increase the difference between light and dark areas. Move right for more punch, left for a flatter look.
Step 6: Click OK when you're happy with the result.
The Brightness slider affects every pixel equally, which can sometimes look a bit heavy-handed. Contrast controls how much difference there is between your highlights and shadows.
Lesson 2: Working with Curves for Precise Control
Curves give you much more control than basic brightness and contrast. Think of it as the professional way to adjust tones:
Step 1: Go to Image > Adjustments > Curves.
Step 2: You'll see a diagonal line on a graph. The bottom left represents shadows, the top right shows highlights.
Step 3: Click anywhere on the line to add a control point.
Step 4: Drag points up to brighten those tones, down to darken them.
Step 5: Add multiple points to control different tonal ranges independently.
The classic S-curve (highlights up slightly, shadows down slightly) adds contrast and punch to most images.
Lesson 3: Adjusting Hue and Saturation
Sometimes your colours need tweaking rather than your exposure. The Hue/Saturation tool sorts this out:
Step 1: Go to Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation.
Step 2: Use the Master dropdown to adjust all colours, or pick a specific colour range.
Step 3: Move the Hue slider to shift colours (reds become oranges, blues become purples).
Step 4: Adjust Saturation to make colours more vivid (right) or more muted (left).
Step 5: Use Lightness sparingly – it's usually better to adjust this with Curves.
Lesson 4: Using AI-Powered Content-Aware Fill
Modern Photoshop includes AI tools that can help with colour and tone work, especially when removing distracting elements:
Step 1: Select the area you want to remove or fill using any selection tool.
Step 2: Go to Edit > Content-Aware Fill.
Step 3: The AI analyses surrounding areas and suggests a fill. You'll see a preview on the right.
Step 4: Adjust the sampling area (green overlay) if the AI isn't getting it right.
Step 5: Choose your output settings – usually 'New Layer' is safest.
Step 6: Click OK to apply the fill.
This works brilliantly for removing power lines, unwanted objects, or extending backgrounds.
Practice
Find a photo that needs colour and tone work – maybe something underexposed or with dull colours. Work through these steps:
- Start with basic Brightness/Contrast to get the exposure roughly right
- Use Curves to fine-tune the contrast and add some punch
- Adjust Hue/Saturation to make the colours pop
- If there are any distracting elements, try Content-Aware Fill to remove them
Take before and after screenshots so you can see your progress.
FAQs
How does Content-Aware Fill actually work?
The AI looks at the pixels around your selection and uses pattern recognition to work out what should go in the gap. It's not magic – it works best when there's consistent texture or pattern nearby to copy from.
Should I use AI tools or manual adjustments?
Both have their place. Manual tools give you precise control, while AI tools can speed up tedious tasks. Start with manual adjustments for the main colour and tone work, then use AI for cleanup tasks.
Can I still make manual adjustments after using AI features?
Absolutely. AI tools are just another part of your toolkit. You can combine them with traditional adjustments however works best for your image.
Why do my adjustments sometimes look too strong?
You might be overdoing it. Take regular breaks and come back with fresh eyes. Also, make sure you're viewing your image at 100% zoom to see the real effect.
Jargon Buster
Curves: A graph-based tool that lets you adjust different tonal ranges independently. Much more flexible than basic brightness/contrast.
Hue: The actual colour – red, blue, green, etc. Moving the hue slider shifts colours around the colour wheel.
Saturation: How vivid or intense colours appear. High saturation means bright, punchy colours. Low saturation looks more muted or grey.
Content-Aware Fill: An AI feature that analyses your image and fills selected areas with appropriate content based on surrounding pixels.
Tonal Range: The spread of tones from pure black through to pure white in your image. Good photos usually have a full tonal range.
Wrap-up
You now know the core tools for fixing colour and tone issues in Photoshop. Start with Brightness/Contrast for quick fixes, move to Curves when you need more control, and use Hue/Saturation to perfect your colours. The AI tools like Content-Aware Fill can save you time on cleanup work.
The key is knowing which tool to reach for when. With practice, you'll develop an eye for what each image needs and how to get there efficiently.
Ready to learn more advanced techniques? Check out our other Photoshop courses.