01
LIGHTEN TONES WITH LEVELS
With the histogram open (Window>
Histogram) set to RGB and with Expanded View
selected from the fly-out menu, open a dark-toned
image, go to Layer>New Adjustment Layer and
choose Levels. Leave the Dark slider and Light
sliders where they are and slide the Midtone slider
to the left slightly. Notice how the midtone levels in
the histogram leap up as the image lightens. In the
Output Levels box, slide the Dark slider right to 20
to lighten the image overall.02
REDISTRIBUTE REDS WITH CURVES
Make a new adjustment layer for Curves
and set the histogram to Colors. Drop down to Red
in the Curves channel menu. Most of the reds in
this image are darks; to lighten them, we want
some red to show in the highlights. Make a
flattened S shape with the Red Curve. Notice how
on the Color histogram the reds are now
distributed at both extremes of dark and light,
balancing out the sunlight in the image.03
FIX FOLIAGE WITH A GREEN CURVE
Still in the Curves panel, select Green from
the Channel dropdown, ensuring that the histogram
is still set to Color. The greens in this image are
mainly the dark foliage in the foreground, and we
want to enhance this without getting a green colour
cast in the sky. Pull the Green Curve up over the
dark part of the Green histogram in the Curves
panel, and down in the highlight area. Notice on the
histogram how the greens are now distributed from
the darkest areas to the darker midtones, and aren’t
present in the highlights at all.USE HISTOGRAMS TO MONITOR TONE AND COLOUR
CHANGES AND TRANSFORM AN IMAGE FROM DUSK
TO DAWN USING ADJUSTMENT LAYERSHISTOGRAM TRICKS FOR
CHANGING COLOURS
26 The Professional Photoshop Book
Pro tricks for mastering colour
016-027 Colour Feature.indd 26 06/10/2015 16:08