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[ 85 ]› › PHOTO EFFECTSStep Five: Now, let’s move away from Curves,
and make adjustments to Levels, which is the
next phase of achieving that blue or teal look in
the shadows. Create a new Levels adjustment
layer by selecting Levels in the Adjustments
panel and, in the Properties panel, select Blue
from the channel drop-down menu.
You’ll adjust the black point and the
white point, but only in the Blue channel,
which will result in a dulled black look, with
a blue tinge. (This works as a cinematic look
because it leaves the red as is, resulting in
skin tones that pop when people are in the
frame.) So, bring the dark gray Output Levels
slider to the right a little (17) to bring blue
into the shadows. Then, drag the white Out-
put Levels slider to the left (218) to bring a
little warmth back into the highlights.Step Six: Now, let’s lay some color on top,
acting as somewhat of a filter. Click the Create
New Fill Layer icon (half-black/half-white circle)
at the bottom of the Layers panel and select
Solid Color. When the Color Picker appears,
select a blue, something like this medium blue
(#18376c), which is bright enough to work
with. (Tip: Don’t pick anything too dark for
this step.) Click OK to close the Color Picker.
In the Layers panel, select a blend mode
of Hard Light and an Opacity of 10%, which
will help achieve a slightly milky look and apply
a blue tone across the image. The Hard Light
blend mode takes properties from the Multi-
ply and Screen blend modes. It’s an aggressive
blend mode, which is why you need to lower
the Opacity. It works by applying contrast,
while keeping the values of the white and
black points.
Yes, we’ve made our look, and now we
need to make it into a LUT; but I’m the kind of
person who likes to keep my layers neat and
tidy, so select all the adjustment layers (click
on the lowest one, then hold down the Shift
key and click on the highest one to select all
of them). Next, Right-click on the top one and
select Group From Layers, and then click OK.
This makes a Layer Group containing all the
adjustment layers together.