1. HUE Hue is color.

2. Hue Hue is the name of a distinct color of the spectrum—red, green, yellow, orange, blue, etc. It refers to the particular wavelength frequency. Click each circle to learn more. The petals have a red hue. The leaves have a green hue. The stamens have a yellow hue.

3. Click the blue box next to the picture with a hue problem. Now let’s see if you can identify hue problems in photos. Which of the two pictures below has more of a hue problem? Not quite. Notice the unnatural red hue of the other photo. Correct! This photo has an unnatural red hue. Hue problems are common in older photos, and they can be corrected.

4. Adjusting Hue You can adjust hue in Photoshop by following these steps: 1.Choose Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Hue/Saturation. 2.Click OK in the New Layer dialog box. This creates a new layer for your hue adjustments and doesn’t discard the original photo information. The two color bars at the bottom of the dialog box represent the colors in their order on the color wheel. The upper color bar shows the color before the adjustment; the lower bar shows how the adjustment affects all of the hues at full saturation.

5. - Hue Adjusting Hue Hue + Click the blue arrows below to adjust the image’s hue using the Hue/Saturation tool. Hue has been subtracted. Hue has been added.

6. This photo needs color retouching. You’ll need to adjust the hue. Click here to adjust the photo in Photoshop. Click here to compare your work. Hue adjusted with the Hue/Saturation tool.

7. SATURATION Saturation is the intensity of color.

8. Saturation refers to the amount of white light mixed with the color. Click the boxes below to learn more about the types of saturation. Saturation Fully saturated colors are very rich and bright. Less saturated colors are more pale and pastel.

9. Click the blue box next to the picture with a saturation problem. Now let’s see if you can identify saturation problems. Which of the two pictures below has more of a saturation problem? Correct! This photo is less saturated and has paler colors than the one on the right. Not quite. Notice how pale the colors of the other photo are compared to this one.

10. Adjusting Saturation You adjust saturation in Photoshop in the same place we went to adjust hue: 1.Choose Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Hue/Saturation. 2.Click OK in the New Layer dialog box. Enter a value or drag the slider to the right to increase the saturation or to the left to decrease it. The color shifts away from or toward the center of the color wheel. Values can range from ‑ 100 (percentage of desaturation, duller colors) to +100 (percentage of saturation increase).

11. - Saturation Adjusting Saturation Saturation + Click the blue arrows below to adjust the image’s saturation using the Hue/Saturation tool. Saturation has been subtracted. Saturation has been added.

12. This photo needs color retouching. You’ll need to adjust the saturation. Click here to adjust the photo in Photoshop. Click here to compare your work. Saturation adjusted with the Hue/Saturation tool.

13. This photo needs color retouching. This time you’ll need to adjust hue and saturation. Click here to adjust the photo in Photoshop. Click here to compare your work. Hue and saturation adjusted with Hue/Saturation tool.

14. VALUE Value describes how bright a color is.

15. White has the highest value possible, black the lowest. Value is defined as: The lights and darks of your picture, ignoring saturation and hue of your colors. A grayscale photograph just captures the values of the photographed object, but not saturation and hue. Value is sometimes really hard to see, since differences in hue and saturation can obscure a sameness in value. Take a look at the middle stripe of the image – it has the same value than the gray stripes, but it’s saturation shifts from no saturation a the black end to maximum saturation in the middle back to no saturation in the white end.

16. Value can be difficult to determine in a color photograph. In many instances contrast will be mistaken for strong value. Red and green are contrasting colors but the color photo of the rose does not have dynamic color. Notice when the photo is converted to black and white the reds and greens appear to be the same shade of gray or equal VALUE.

17. This photograph has value problems. What value range is this photo in? Incorrect. Try again. Correct! The brightest areas in the photograph are a mid-tone gray. LowMediumHigh

18. This photograph has value problems. What value range is this photo in? Incorrect. Try again. LowMediumHigh Correct! The darkest areas in the photograph are a mid-tone gray.

19. Contrast refers to differences in values and hues. Contrast creates visual excitement and add interest to an image. If all the image’s values or hues are the same, the result is monotonous and unexciting. Contrast

20. Value contrast is most evident when black is next to white, and when light values from one end of the gray scale are next to dark values from the other end. A black and white photograph is readable because of gray value contrasts.

21. Contrast in hue intensity occurs when a pure, fully intense color is next to a muted or grayed color mixture. The pure color’s strength and intensity seem to cause it to glow.

22. Click the blue box next to the picture with a contrast problem. Now let’s see if you can identify contrast problems. Which image below has a contrast problem? Correct! This image shows minimal differences in color values. Not quite. This image is a good example of contrast because of the vast differences in color values.

23. Adjusting Contrast You adjust contrast in Photoshop using the Levels tool in Photoshop: 1.Choose Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Levels. 2.Click OK in the New Layer dialog box. With the Levels tool you’ll use a histogram to make adjustments. On the left of the histogram are black values, and on the right of the histogram are white values. In the middle are grey values. The histogram has a range of 256 values. In a low contrast image the value range has fewer values. Notice on the right and left sides there are missing values (more so on the right than left). To adjust the Levels of an image and increase its contrast, you’ll want to adjust the white values by sliding the white slider arrow until you reach the point of the histogram where white values begin. Then, adjust the black values by sliding the black slider arrow until you reach the point of the histogram where black values begin.

24. Adjusting Contrast Click the blue arrows below to adjust the image’s contrast using the Levels tool. Whites have been subtracted. Blacks have been subtracted.

25. This photo needs color retouching. You’ll need to adjust the contrast. Click here to adjust the photo in Photoshop. Click here to compare your work. Contrast adjusted with the Levels tool.

26. So far, you have learned how to correct hue and saturation using the Hue/Saturation adjustment palette and how to correct contrast in value and hue using the Levels palette. You will now learn how to adjust value using the Curves palette. You can adjust the value and color of an image by changing the shape of the curve in the Curves adjustment. Moving the curve upward or downward lightens or darkens the image, depending on whether you’ve set Curves to display levels or percentages. The steeper sections of the curve represent areas of higher contrast & flatter sections represent areas of lower contrast.

27. Quick overview of the Curves palette using a Curves adjustment layer. Click on a highlight to learn the palette. On image adjustment tool. Sample in picture to set black point. Sample in picture to set gray point. Sample in picture to set white point. Edit points to modify the curve. Draw to modify the curve. Curves type drop-down menu. Curves color mode. Automatically adjust curves. White point. Gray point. Black point.

28. Open original file. Notice how the picture has equal value and appears gray. Click on the step to learn how to adjust value and hue in Curves. Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4 Step 5 Step 6 Click on the Curves icon in the Adjustments panel. Adjust the white point to lighten the light areas, and adjust the black point to darken the dark areas. Click on the return button and repeat step 2 to add a new adjustment layer. The picture has more value, but the overall picture has a blue hue. Change the mode drop-down menu to blue and click on the gray point line and drag the blue channel to adjust the hue. Now you may save your picture and continue working. OriginalRepaired

29. As we discussed, this photo has a low value range. The photo was corrected by adjusting the white point to brighten the picture and by adding two gray points to adjust midlevel tones.

30. We identified that this photo has a high value range. The photo was corrected by sliding the black point to increase the level of black to the picture.

31. This photo needs color retouching. Would you adjust hue, saturation or value? Click here to adjust the photo in Photoshop. Click here to compare your work. This photo required more than one color adjustment tool! Value adjusted with CurvesBrightness adjusted with Saturation

32. This photo needs color retouching. Would you adjust hue, saturation or value? Click here to adjust the photo in Photoshop. Click here to compare your work. Curves applied to create contrast after saturation. Notice only the green & blue channels were adjusted. This photo required more than one color adjustment tool! Saturation had to be applied before curves to this picture.

33. This photo needs color retouching. Would you adjust hue, saturation or value? Click here to adjust the photo in Photoshop. Click here to compare your work. Saturation made the sky look unnatural. This photo required only the Levels adjustment palette. Levels was applied to brighten the highlights. Curves lightened the values too much.

34. As you have noticed throughout this lesson, there is not a precise formula to making color corrections in Photoshop. The ability to understand color and to identify a faulted photograph is the first step to repairing photos. Adjusting color using the methods described in this lesson requires experimentation and understanding the limitations and functions of the tools, so don’t be afraid to mix it up!

35. Congratulations! You have completed a course in adjusting color using Hue, Saturation, Levels & Curves in Photoshop.