Colour grading is an important tool for photographers and filmmakers, as it helps to refine a scene’s overall look and feel. This tutorial will walk you through the process of colour grading in Adobe Photoshop.
Before you begin, it’s important to note that colour grading is a very subjective process. Different people may have different interpretations of the same scene or image, so the best way to achieve the desired result is to experiment with different techniques and tools until you find the look that best suits your needs.
1. Understanding the Basics of Colour Grading
Before you start colour grading in Photoshop, it’s important to understand the fundamentals of colour grading. Colour grading is the process of altering the colours of a video or image in order to enhance or alter its overall look and feel. This can be done to create a certain mood or atmosphere, or simply to make a scene look more visually appealing.
In the world of photography and filmmaking, the three primary colour grading tools are curves, hue/saturation, and levels. Each of these tools can be used to adjust different aspects of the image’s colour.
2. Setting Up Your Image
Now that you understand the basics of colour grading, it’s time to get started. First, open your image in Photoshop. Once your image is open, go to the “Image” menu and select “Mode”. Make sure that the image is in “RGB Color” mode.
Next, create a duplicate layer of your image by going to the “Layer” menu and selecting “Duplicate Layer”. This duplicate layer will serve as the “master” layer, and it will remain untouched while you adjust the colours of the other layers.
For this tutorial, go to the “Window” menu and select “Curves”. This will open the Curves palette.
3. Adjusting Curves
In the Curves palette, you will see a graph with a diagonal line. This line represents the tonal range of the image, from dark (on the left) to light (on the right). The horizontal axis represents the original tonal range of the image, while the vertical axis represents the adjusted tonal range.
You can adjust the tonal range by clicking and dragging the line. For example, if you want to make the image darker, you can click and drag the line downwards. If you want to make the image brighter, you can click and drag the line upwards.
You can also adjust the tonal range in specific areas of the image by clicking on the graph and dragging the line up and down. This is a great way to make subtle adjustments to the tonal range of the image.
4. Adjusting Hue/Saturation
The next step is to adjust the hue and saturation of the image. To do this, go to the “Layer” menu and select “New Adjustment Layer”. Select “Hue/Saturation” from the list of adjustment layers. This will open the Hue/Saturation palette.
In this palette, you can adjust the hue, saturation, and lightness of the image. To adjust the hue, simply drag the Hue slider left or right. To adjust the saturation, drag the Saturation slider up or down. To adjust the lightness, drag the Lightness slider up or down.
You can also adjust the hue, saturation, and lightness in specific areas of the image by clicking on the image and dragging the Hue, Saturation, and Lightness sliders. This is a great way to make subtle adjustments to the hue and saturation of the image.
5. Adjusting Levels
The final step is to adjust the levels of the image. To do this, go to the “Layer” menu and select “New Adjustment Layer”. Select “Levels” from the list of adjustment layers. This will open the Levels palette.
In this palette, you can adjust the shadows, midtones, and highlights of the image. To adjust the shadows, drag the Shadows slider left or right. To adjust the midtones, drag the Midtones slider left or right. To adjust the highlights, drag the Highlights slider left or right.
You can also adjust the shadows, midtones, and highlights in specific areas of the image by clicking on the image and dragging the Shadows, Midtones, and Highlights sliders. This is a great way to make subtle adjustments to the levels of the image.
Once you’re finished adjusting the curves, hue/saturation, and levels of your image, you can save your work by going to the “File” menu and selecting “Save As”.
Congratulations! You’ve just completed an Adobe Photoshop colour grading tutorial. With the skills you’ve learned here, you’ll be well on your way to creating beautiful images with the perfect colour grade. Good luck!
