Making color corrections

Use the improved Dodge, Burn, and Sponge tools with the Protect Tones setting to achieve subtle and seamless corrections.

• View full-size on Adobe TV
• View more videos like this

Requirements

To complete the tasks demonstrated in this tutorial, you need the following software and files:

Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended

• Try
• Buy

Sample file

lrvid4119_ps.zip (ZIP, 4.5MB)

Prerequisite knowledge

Basic knowledge of toning tools in Photoshop

Making color corrections

Adobe® Photoshop® CS4 includes a number of improvements to its tonal tools. In this tutorial, you will learn how to make color corrections with the Burn, Dodge, and Sponge tools. You will also learn how to change the size and hardness of your brush using new keyboard shortcuts. Lastly, you will use the enhanced Replace Color command to selectively modify colors inside of an image.

Using the Dodge tool

Photoshop has long provided tonal tools to adjust brightness and saturation variations. The Dodge tool, used to brighten an image; the Burn tool, used to darken an image; and the Sponge tool, used to vary saturation, provide even more powerful control over color corrections with the addition of the Protect Tones and Vibrance settings. To use the Dodge tool:

1. Open an image in Photoshop.
2. Choose the Dodge tool and use it to brighten the shadow areas of the image. On the Options bar, choose Midtones for the Range. Drag over some of the midtone values in your image. Notice the pixels are lightened, but the saturation and natural variations in brightness values are retained.

   

   Figure 1: The Options bar
3. Now, choose Shadows from the Range menu. Deselect Protect Tones to see how the Dodge tool performs in previous versions of Photoshop.

   

   Figure 2: Choosing the Shadows Range
4. Paint over a shaded area in your image. Use the Zoom tool to zoom in on the image. You will see that the Dodge tool goes too far in brightening the image, brings up a lot of noise distortion, and exaggerates the contrast.
5. Zoom out of the image. Press Command/Ctrl+Z to undo the last change.
6. Choose the Dodge tool again and turn Protect Tones back on. Paint over some of the shadows in your image again. Notice that the Dodge tool does a much better job of brightening the shadows. In fact, you can paint over the same area multiple times without producing any haloing effects, as happens with previous versions of Photoshop.

Using the Burn tool

The Protect Tones setting also enhances the effect of the Burn tool. To use the Burn tool:

1. Choose the Burn tool from the Tonal Tools menu in the toolbox and select an area of the image that contains highlights.

   

   Figure 3: The Burn tool
2. Change the Range value to Highlights.
3. Turn off Protect Tones to see how the Burn tool functions in previous versions of Photoshop, and then paint over the highlights with the Burn tool. You will notice that the Burn tool creates a gray cast as it paints over highlighted areas.
4. Undo the modification and select Protect Tones. Repaint the highlights. You will see that the gray cast has been replaced by a more natural effect.
5. If the modification to the highlights is still too dark, undo the modification and lower the Exposure value, which is on the Options bar next to the Range value, as shown in Figure 2. Repaint the highlights to achieve a naturalistic effect.

Using the Sponge tool

The Vibrance setting enhances the effectiveness of the Sponge tool in Photoshop CS4. To use the Sponge tool:

1. Choose the Sponge tool from the Tonal Tools menu in the toolbox.

   

   Figure 4: The Sponge tool
2. Set the Mode to Saturate on the Options bar.

   

   Figure 5: Setting the Sponge mode to Saturate
3. Deselect Vibrance to see how the Sponge tool operates in previous versions of Photoshop.
4. Paint over an area of the image, preferably an area containing skin tones. You will see that the Sponge tool tints the image with a very bright orange shade.
5. Undo the modification. Select Vibrance and repaint the image. Even with the Flow value at a relatively high setting, such as 50%, you will achieve a much more natural effect.
6. Undo the modification and reduce the Flow value to 30% by pressing the 3 key. Paint over the area again to increase the Vibrance.
7. To compare the before and after versions of the image, choose File > Revert or press Command/Ctrl+Z.

Changing brush attributes

Along with enhanced tonal features, Photoshop CS4 offers new keyboard shortcuts for changing the brush size and hardness. To change brush size:

1. Select any painting or editing tool. Alt+right-click and drag or press Command+Control and drag. You will see a preview of the brush size, a bounding area around your cursor. Drag inward to decrease the brush size; drag out from the circle to increase the brush size.
2. To change the hardness of the brush, press Shift+Alt+Right-click/Control+Option and drag. You will see a preview of the brush hardness. Again, drag inwards to decrease the hardness and outwards to increase it.

The Replace Color command

The enhanced Replace Color command allows you to selectively modify colors in an image. To use the Replace Color command:

1. Choose Image > Adjustments > Replace Color. The Replace Color dialog box opens.

   

   Figure 6: The Replace Color dialog box
2. Choose a color in the image to modify by clicking that part of the image with the eyedropper cursor.
3. Brighten the color by moving the Lightness slider in the Replace Color dialog box to the right. Notice that you get a fair amount of artifacts and awkward transitions along the edges of the image.
4. To eliminate awkward transitions and artifacts, select Localized Color Clusters.
5. Click OK to apply the changes.

   Note: Remember that you can check before and after versions of the image by choosing File > Revert.

Where to go from here

• Photoshop CS4 Help and Support
• Learn Photoshop CS4
• Introducing Photoshop CS4 , by Deke McClelland
• Making adjustments, by Deke McClelland
• Making local adjustments in Camera Raw, by Chris Orwig
• Lynda.com

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License

About the authors