1. Adobe Photoshop CS5 – Illustrated Unit E: Improving Images with Adjustment Layers

2. Objectives Understand grayscale Investigate a grayscale image
Use the Brightness/Contrast adjustment
Adjust black and white points with levels
Adobe Photoshop CS5 - Illustrated

3. Objectives Adjust the midpoint with levels Investigate an RGB image
Use the Color Balance adjustment
Use the Vibrance adjustment
Adobe Photoshop CS5 - Illustrated

4. Improving Images with Adjustment Layers
Images can come from anywhere
Photoshop’s practical operations
Improve image characteristics
Color, contrast, overall effect
Adjustment layer
Allows for adjustments applied to image
Does not directly affect the artwork
Called “non-destructive”
Exists as a layer on the Layers panel
Adobe Photoshop CS5 - Illustrated

5. Understanding Grayscale
Grayscale digital image
Each pixel: one of 256 shades of gray
256 shades of gray
Creates continuous tone image illusion
Grayscale range: 0-255
Pixels grayscale value of zero: black
Pixels grayscale value of 255: white
Any number in between: light to dark gray
128: middle point in the grayscale range
Adobe Photoshop CS5 - Illustrated

6. Understanding Grayscale
Sampling pixels
Identifying pixel information in the info panels
Info panel displays the Grayscale readouts sample pixels in ink percentages
Readout provides information for the printed image resolution
Adobe Photoshop CS5 - Illustrated

7. Understanding Grayscale
Info panel settings
Sampling the lightest pixels in the Image
Adobe Photoshop CS5 - Illustrated

8. CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
True/False. A grayscale image refers to a digital image in which each pixel can be one—and only one—of 256 shades of gray.
(Answer: True)
2. Quick Quiz: True/False. Pixels with a grayscale value of 0 are white.
(Answer: False)
Adobe Photoshop CS5 - Illustrated

9. Investigating a Grayscale Image
Analyzing image appearance
Identify highlights, shadows, midtones
Highlights
Lightest image areas
Pixels values in upper third of grayscale range
Shadows
Darkest areas
Pixels in low third of the grayscale range
Adobe Photoshop CS5 - Illustrated

10. Investigating a Grayscale Image
Midtones
Fall into middle grayscale range
Individual digital image pixels
Illusion of continuous tone
Smooth transition from shadows to midtones to highlights
Creation of illusions
Requires sufficient number of grays available per pixel
Adobe Photoshop CS5 - Illustrated

11. Investigating a Grayscale Image
Shadows, midtones, and highlights identified on the gradient
Image 3 shades of gray available per pixel
Image with 16 shades of gray available per pixel
Adobe Photoshop CS5 - Illustrated

12. CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
True/False. Midtones are the darkest areas represented by pixels in the low third of the grayscale range.
(Answer: False)
Why the number values on the right of the info panel can only be 0, 148, or 255.
Adobe Photoshop CS5 - Illustrated

13. Using the Brightness/Contrast Adjustment
Adjustments
Operations affecting image appearance
Manipulating brightness and contrast
Can be made directly to pixels on a layer
Cannot go back and readjust at a later time
Creation of adjustments layers
Adjustments existing as layers on the Layers panel
Affect image
Can be manipulated at a later time
Adobe Photoshop CS5 - Illustrated

14. Using the Brightness/Contrast Adjustment
Adjustment layer
Can be hidden, re-shown, deleted at any time
Brightness/Contrast adjustment
Brightness: defined by grayscale value
Higher the number, the brighter the pixel
Contrast: represented by the relationship between the highlights and shadows
Good when highlights and shadows distinctly different in tonal range; not “flat”
Adobe Photoshop CS5 - Illustrated

15. Using the Brightness/Contrast Adjustment
Key to making adjustments
Walk the fine line between going far enough and going to far with the adjustment
Designers
Push adjustment to the extreme
To see what the adjustment looks like
Can easily see what is not wanted
Can make it easier to make adjustments
Adobe Photoshop CS5 - Illustrated

16. Using the Brightness/Contrast Adjustment
Increasing the brightness
Before and after the adjustment
Adobe Photoshop CS5 - Illustrated

17. CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES What is brightness?
(Answer: Brightness is defined by a pixel’s grayscale value: the higher the number, the brighter the pixel.)
What is contrast?
(Answer: Contrast is represented by the relationship between the highlights and shadows.)
Adobe Photoshop CS5 - Illustrated

18. Adjusting Black and White Points with Levels
Start and end of the image tonal range
Black point
Represents darkest image pixel
White point
Represents brightest image pixel
Adobe Photoshop CS5 - Illustrated

19. Adjusting Black and White Points with Levels
Have substantial effect on contrast
Cameras set to capture image without making too many shadows or highlights that are too white
Results provide a smooth tonal range
Image still lacks contrast
Adobe Photoshop CS5 - Illustrated

20. Adjusting Black and White Points with Levels
The Levels adjustment
Fixes shadows: not dark enough
Fixes highlights: not quite white enough
Histogram component
Adjusts image by manipulating sliders at the bottom
Levels adjustment options on the Adjustments panel
Adobe Photoshop CS5 - Illustrated

21. Adjusting Black and White Points with Levels
Adjustments panel with Levels adjustment layer settings
Adjusting the black and white points
Adobe Photoshop CS5 - Illustrated

22. CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES True/False. Every image has a black point.
(Answer: True)
Which point represents the brightest pixel in the image?
(Answer: the white point)
Adobe Photoshop CS5 - Illustrated

23. Adjusting the Midpoint with Levels
Defines areas of image falling into the available grayscale range middle
Moving the midpoint lightens or darkens the image
Start at the outside and work inwards
Set black and white points: the extremes
Verify satisfactory contrast between highlight and shadow range
Midpoint can be adjusted
Adobe Photoshop CS5 - Illustrated

24. Adjusting the Midpoint with Levels
Adjustment layer creation
Created automatically with a layer mask
Like the Levels adjustment
Layer mask
Applies adjustment selectively in different strengths to different areas of artwork
Adobe Photoshop CS5 - Illustrated

25. Adjusting the Midpoint with Levels
Brightening the midtones
Masking areas of the image from the adjustment
Adobe Photoshop CS5 - Illustrated

26. CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES True/False. You begin with the midpoint.
(Answer: False)
True/False. You can rename a layer.
(Answer: True)
Adobe Photoshop CS5 - Illustrated

27. Investigating an RGB Image
Monitors display color as light
Red, green, blue: additive primary colors of light
Combine to produce all other colors in the spectrum
Mixing varying strengths produce yellows, purples, limes, etc.
RGB: like grayscale
Various shades available per pixel
256 shades of red, green, and blue
Adobe Photoshop CS5 - Illustrated

28. Investigating an RGB Image
Color printing
Use cyan, magenta and yellow inks plus black for detail (CMYK)
Different than primary colors for viewing with a monitor: red, green and blue
Cyan, magenta, and yellow
Each created by removing on the additive RGB primary colors
Photoshop’s color adjustment dialog boxes use RGB and CMY as basis
Adobe Photoshop CS5 - Illustrated

29. Investigating an RGB Image
Viewing the Red channel only
Viewing the image with no red component
Viewing the image with no blue component
Adobe Photoshop CS5 - Illustrated

30. CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES Which color is “minus blue”? (Answer: yellow)
What the additive primary colors of light are. Have them discuss the colors of the spectrum in reference to the additive primary colors.
Adobe Photoshop CS5 - Illustrated

31. Using the Color Balance Adjustment
Adjustment controlling balance of red, green and blue in an image
Digital camera images often too red
Fixed using the Color Balance adjustment
Adobe Photoshop CS5 - Illustrated

32. Using the Color Balance Adjustment
Pixel’s red component number
Substantially greater than green and blue number will have a red hue
If numbers for red, green and blue colors are close in value:
Pixel becomes neutral in color
If numbers are the same:
Pixel will have no color
Can only be a neutral gray
Adobe Photoshop CS5 - Illustrated

33. Using the Color Balance Adjustment
Before and after the adjustment
Adobe Photoshop CS5 - Illustrated

34. CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES What three colors in an image can you control?
(Answer: red, green, and blue)
True/False. Whites in eyes are a great place to sample for midtones and highlights.
(Answer: True)
Adobe Photoshop CS5 - Illustrated

35. Using the Vibrance Adjustment
Useful for quickly making colors in an image more vibrant
Vibrance
Refers to intensity of a color
Measure of a pixel’s vibrance
Called saturation
High saturation produces vibrant color
Reduced saturation produces dull, more neutral color
Pixel with no saturation: neutral gray
Adobe Photoshop CS5 - Illustrated

36. Using the Vibrance Adjustment
Vibrance Adjustment settings
Saturation
Increases or decreases saturation value of all pixels selected
Vibrancy
Increases saturation of pixels needing it
Does not affect pixels already saturated
Adobe Photoshop CS5 - Illustrated

37. Using the Vibrance Adjustment
Over saturating the image
Before and after the adjustment
Adobe Photoshop CS5 - Illustrated

38. CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES What refers to the measure of a pixel’s vibrance?
(Answer: saturation)
True/False. The last state listed in the History panel represents the first change you made to the file.
(Answer: False)
Adobe Photoshop CS5 - Illustrated

39. Summary Photoshop offers practical operations
Improve characteristics of images
Color, contrast, overall effect
Analyzing image appearance first step
Image highlights, shadows, midtones
Digital image
Illusion of continuous tone
Black point: darkest pixel in the image
White point: brightest pixel in image
Adobe Photoshop CS5 - Illustrated

40. Summary Levels adjustment Color Balance Vibrance adjustment
Fixes shadows not dark enough
Fixes highlights not quite white enough
Color Balance
Adjustment controlling image balance of red, green and blue
Vibrance adjustment
Provides a setting for saturation and vibrancy
Adobe Photoshop CS5 - Illustrated