Using Help
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152
Adobe Photoshop Help
Making Color and Tonal Adjustments
Using Help
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Contents
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Index
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152
Using the Variations command
The Variations command lets you adjust the color balance, contrast, and saturation of an
image by showing you thumbnails of alternatives.
This command is most useful for average-key images that don’t require precise color
adjustments. It does not work on indexed-color images (Photoshop).
To use the Variations command:
1
Open the Variations dialog box. (See
“Making color adjustments” on page 132
.)
Note:
If the Variations command does not appear in the Adjustments submenu, the Varia-
tions plug-in module may not have been installed. (See
“Using plug-in modules” on
page 58
.)
The two thumbnails at the top of the dialog box show the original selection (Original) and
the selection with its currently selected adjustments (Current Pick). When you first open
the dialog box, these two images are the same. As you make adjustments, the Current Pick
image changes to reflect your choices.
2
Select Show Clipping if you want to display a neon preview of areas in the image that
will be clipped by the adjustment—that is, converted to pure white or pure black. Clipping
can result in undesirable color shifts, as distinct colors in the original image are mapped to
the same color. Clipping does not occur when you adjust midtones.
Note:
Clipped colors are not the same as out-of-gamut colors.
3
Select what to adjust in the image:
•
Shadows, Midtones, or Highlights to indicate whether you want to adjust the dark,
middle, or light areas.
•
Saturation to change the degree of hue in the image. If you exceed the maximum
saturation for a color, it may be clipped.
4
Drag the Fine/Coarse slider to determine the amount of each adjustment. Moving the
slider one tick mark doubles the adjustment amount.
5
Adjust the color and brightness:
•
To add a color to the image, click the appropriate color thumbnail.
•
To subtract a color, click the thumbnail for its opposite color. (See
“About the color
wheel” on page 146
.) For example, to subtract cyan, click the More Red thumbnail.
•
To adjust brightness, click a thumbnail on the right side of the dialog box.
Each time you click a thumbnail, other thumbnails change. The center thumbnail always
reflects the current choices.
Applying special color effects to images
The Desaturate, Invert, Equalize (Photoshop), Threshold (Photoshop), and Posterize
(Photoshop) commands change colors or brightness values in an image but are typically
used for enhancing color and producing special effects, rather than for correcting color.
Note:
You can also make color adjustments by blending colors from different channels.
(See
“Mixing color channels (Photoshop)” on page 271
.)
