lisacohen
08-28-2006, 10:45 AM
Just a sneak peek at the tutorial that will be on my blog tomorrow. Hope you enjoy! :-)
Photoshop Focus: Adjustment Layers
I intended to spend this week talking about some of the different methods of converting a color photograph to black and white but while doing so I realized that I need to cover some basics that I found most helpful before getting to that. I found myself starting to use something that I have never explained here and realized that before we jump in with b&w conversions, I needed to talk about the thing that I think is the one of the best things I've learned in PS since sliced bread. Okay, this may be a little extreme...but when I found it, I felt like I had found something that I had been missing for so long. I had been scrapping for MONTHS before I learned about..... {drum roll please}.... ADJUSTMENT LAYERS! They are right up there with brushes, I tell ya.
Using adjustment layers allow you to manipulate your layer (be it a photograph, a background paper, an element/embellishment) without destroying the original. An adjustment layer sits on top of your layer and effects the layers that come underneath it. You can use it with masks to help pinpoint just one layer or a part of that layer.
We'll use the following exercises to see the power of adjustment layers:
* Recolor a portion of a background paper using a Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer
* Photo manipulation with a Levels Adjustment Layer
Example 1: Using a Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer to re-color a background paper
1.Open the paper you want to work with. I'm using a paper that I designed for an upcoming ScrapArtist collaboration.
http://lisacohen.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/backgroundpaper.jpg
2. Click the button that is half black and half white on the diagonal at the bottom of the Layers palette.
http://lisacohen.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/adjustmentlayerbutton_1.jpg
3. Scroll down and choose Hue/Saturation from the Add an Adjustment Layer menu.
http://lisacohen.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/huesat_1.jpg
4. The Hue/Saturation Dialog box will open up and look like this:
http://lisacohen.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/huesatdialog.jpg
5. You can now move the slides around to your liking.
Here are a few examples of different combinations.
Hue -44, Saturation -19, Lightness +30
http://lisacohen.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/adj1_1.jpg
Hue +17, Saturation -56, Lightness -16
http://lisacohen.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/adj2_1.jpg
Hue 0 (I chose no change for Hue), Saturation +23, Lightness 0 (again, no change)
http://lisacohen.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/adj3.jpg
Hue +60, Saturation 0, Lightness 0
http://lisacohen.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/adj7.jpg
Hue 0, Saturation 0, Lightness -17
http://lisacohen.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/adj4.jpg
Hue 0, Saturation +32, Lightness +37
http://lisacohen.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/adj5.jpg
And here I only adjusted the Reds. You isolate a specific color by using the drop down box at the top of the Hue/Saturation dialog box. You can see the difference in the weathering along the edges since the weathering/grunge was in red and now it's a more blueish hue.
http://lisacohen.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/adj6.jpg
http://lisacohen.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/isolatereds.jpg
Now the beauty of using adjustment layers is that I haven't harmed the original paper layer that I started with. The adjustment layers "sit" on top of the layers below it and affect only the one below it.
So when I was finished with these examples my Layers palette looked like this:
http://lisacohen.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/layerspalette_1.jpg
I can now choose which ones I want to make visible and can easily see the changes between the various adjustment layers so I can see which one I want to use with the photos I want to scrap... and all while the original stays exactly the way it was created. No harm done.
Example 2: Using a Levels Adjustment Layer for Basic Photo Manipulation
1. Open a photo that you want to start with. I chose this one below.
http://lisacohen.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/origphoto_4.jpg
2. Click on the Add An Adjustment Layer button and this time select Levels from the fly-out menu.
3. You will get a picture of the picture's histogram (as seen below the photo in step 1). A histogram is a bar chart that shows brightness from blacks on the left to whites on the right.
4. From looking at the histogram, you can see that my original photo has a lot more blacks and some of the whites are absent from the photo (there are an absence of black bars on the right side of my histogram). Here's what happens when I move the white point (the white triangle under the graph) over to the left meet the bars in the histogram. The photo is a little brighter.
http://lisacohen.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/whitepoint.jpg
5. And here's what happens when I move the center triangle (the gamma point) over to the left to get a better distribution of blacks and whites through the photo.
http://lisacohen.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/gammapointadj_1.jpg
And here's the side-by-side comparison of the photos so that the subtle differences are more noticible.
http://lisacohen.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/sidebysidecompare.jpg
This is only the very tip of the proverbial iceberg in terms of photo manipulation but it's still a powerful tool be able to play around with how you like your photos to look and to be able to do it while in a layout and not do any damage to the photo layer. This way you can come back to a layout in progress another day and decide you want a different look for your photo.
The warning in playing with levels is to be careful how far to the left you bring the white point and how far to the right you bring your black point (the black triangle on the left). If you bring these in past where the black bars in the histogram appear, you will clip your colors. When this happens, PS will render the bars that you've opted to clip as black or white pixels. So you lose the depth and the detail that comes with all the subtle shades that appear in good photography. But hey, this might make a fun graphic look. So I say, as long as you know the rules... well, then you're free to break them. :-)
Have fun and happy creating!
Photoshop Focus: Adjustment Layers
I intended to spend this week talking about some of the different methods of converting a color photograph to black and white but while doing so I realized that I need to cover some basics that I found most helpful before getting to that. I found myself starting to use something that I have never explained here and realized that before we jump in with b&w conversions, I needed to talk about the thing that I think is the one of the best things I've learned in PS since sliced bread. Okay, this may be a little extreme...but when I found it, I felt like I had found something that I had been missing for so long. I had been scrapping for MONTHS before I learned about..... {drum roll please}.... ADJUSTMENT LAYERS! They are right up there with brushes, I tell ya.
Using adjustment layers allow you to manipulate your layer (be it a photograph, a background paper, an element/embellishment) without destroying the original. An adjustment layer sits on top of your layer and effects the layers that come underneath it. You can use it with masks to help pinpoint just one layer or a part of that layer.
We'll use the following exercises to see the power of adjustment layers:
* Recolor a portion of a background paper using a Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer
* Photo manipulation with a Levels Adjustment Layer
Example 1: Using a Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer to re-color a background paper
1.Open the paper you want to work with. I'm using a paper that I designed for an upcoming ScrapArtist collaboration.
http://lisacohen.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/backgroundpaper.jpg
2. Click the button that is half black and half white on the diagonal at the bottom of the Layers palette.
http://lisacohen.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/adjustmentlayerbutton_1.jpg
3. Scroll down and choose Hue/Saturation from the Add an Adjustment Layer menu.
http://lisacohen.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/huesat_1.jpg
4. The Hue/Saturation Dialog box will open up and look like this:
http://lisacohen.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/huesatdialog.jpg
5. You can now move the slides around to your liking.
Here are a few examples of different combinations.
Hue -44, Saturation -19, Lightness +30
http://lisacohen.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/adj1_1.jpg
Hue +17, Saturation -56, Lightness -16
http://lisacohen.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/adj2_1.jpg
Hue 0 (I chose no change for Hue), Saturation +23, Lightness 0 (again, no change)
http://lisacohen.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/adj3.jpg
Hue +60, Saturation 0, Lightness 0
http://lisacohen.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/adj7.jpg
Hue 0, Saturation 0, Lightness -17
http://lisacohen.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/adj4.jpg
Hue 0, Saturation +32, Lightness +37
http://lisacohen.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/adj5.jpg
And here I only adjusted the Reds. You isolate a specific color by using the drop down box at the top of the Hue/Saturation dialog box. You can see the difference in the weathering along the edges since the weathering/grunge was in red and now it's a more blueish hue.
http://lisacohen.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/adj6.jpg
http://lisacohen.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/isolatereds.jpg
Now the beauty of using adjustment layers is that I haven't harmed the original paper layer that I started with. The adjustment layers "sit" on top of the layers below it and affect only the one below it.
So when I was finished with these examples my Layers palette looked like this:
http://lisacohen.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/layerspalette_1.jpg
I can now choose which ones I want to make visible and can easily see the changes between the various adjustment layers so I can see which one I want to use with the photos I want to scrap... and all while the original stays exactly the way it was created. No harm done.
Example 2: Using a Levels Adjustment Layer for Basic Photo Manipulation
1. Open a photo that you want to start with. I chose this one below.
http://lisacohen.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/origphoto_4.jpg
2. Click on the Add An Adjustment Layer button and this time select Levels from the fly-out menu.
3. You will get a picture of the picture's histogram (as seen below the photo in step 1). A histogram is a bar chart that shows brightness from blacks on the left to whites on the right.
4. From looking at the histogram, you can see that my original photo has a lot more blacks and some of the whites are absent from the photo (there are an absence of black bars on the right side of my histogram). Here's what happens when I move the white point (the white triangle under the graph) over to the left meet the bars in the histogram. The photo is a little brighter.
http://lisacohen.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/whitepoint.jpg
5. And here's what happens when I move the center triangle (the gamma point) over to the left to get a better distribution of blacks and whites through the photo.
http://lisacohen.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/gammapointadj_1.jpg
And here's the side-by-side comparison of the photos so that the subtle differences are more noticible.
http://lisacohen.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/sidebysidecompare.jpg
This is only the very tip of the proverbial iceberg in terms of photo manipulation but it's still a powerful tool be able to play around with how you like your photos to look and to be able to do it while in a layout and not do any damage to the photo layer. This way you can come back to a layout in progress another day and decide you want a different look for your photo.
The warning in playing with levels is to be careful how far to the left you bring the white point and how far to the right you bring your black point (the black triangle on the left). If you bring these in past where the black bars in the histogram appear, you will clip your colors. When this happens, PS will render the bars that you've opted to clip as black or white pixels. So you lose the depth and the detail that comes with all the subtle shades that appear in good photography. But hey, this might make a fun graphic look. So I say, as long as you know the rules... well, then you're free to break them. :-)
Have fun and happy creating!