How to Organize Your Color Project

Color Exercise by Ajiah Daley

Where to begin: Start with a photo with a full range of values--dark, light, and several grays in between. If you aren't sure about the value, squint and stare at the photo. Do light and dark areas stay defined? If not, choose something else! You can also tell by converting it to black and white to better see the range of contrast.


What NOT to do: Don't rely on the hue/saturation adjustment to make an effective color change. Instead, use the COLOR BALANCE adjustment. This will allow you to treat Shadows, Midtones, and Highlights separately for each of the four colors in the CMYK process. This gives you 12 options for fine tuning vs. the one in the simple hue adjustment. COLOR BALANCE appears under the command Image>Adjustments.

Work in Masks: Changing color overall is seldom the best approach. Separate portions of your photo using masks, the quick selection tool or the magnetic lasso, and work on duplicate layers.

Use the Paint Brush: Many color effects can be better achieved using a soft paintbrush and varying degrees of transparency in a separate layer overlaying the primary image.

Readjust Value: After making color alterations, you will probably need to go back and readjust the values in specific parts of the photo--check your BRIGHTNESS/CONTRAST, CURVES, SHADOWS/HIGHLIGHTS, and SATURATION.

Consider Using Filters: If your finished product is in the surreal or unreal realm, consider making it more artistic by applying filters. You can invert a photo (IMAGE

Have fun!