Before + After: Adjustment Layers

Due to the SITS/Blogfrog 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Challenge, I am weeks behind in my photo editing. The photographs used in today’s example are from July 31 and I just today edited them! I haven’t been the best Project 365 example either, as I almost always skip at least one day a week. Hopefully now that the challenge is “over” (is self-improvement ever truly over?) I’ll get back on track.

I’m excited to participate in this week’s Before + After Blog Hop hosted by Pixel Perfect.

As I mentioned, I totally ditched the Love That Shot Blossom Workshop, but it is 100% because I was overwhelmed. I completed the first week’s assignments. The materials are AWESOME. Michelle goes over not only excellent photography techniques and exercises, but also covers the photo-editing aspect in Photoshop and Elements. The course is completely awesome and it’s totally worth the price. All workshops are free to members, and that’s totally worth the price, also!

Non-Destructively Edit Your Photos

One thing Michelle taught me to use effectively in the workshop is fill/adjustment layers and I’m in love with them! They are a way to work on your photograph non-destructively. This is so important because you can go back and tweak just a single aspect without having to undo or go back to the beginning.

For most of my “clean” edits, I adjust a few things: levels, curves, color balance and hue/saturation. All of these can be accessed through the Image > Adjustments menu or through keyboard shortcuts and up until recently, that’s what I’ve been doing. I feel kind of silly for doing it this way for so long when you can also use adjustment layers to accomplish these individually.

Down in your layers palette, there is a half black/white circle icon: . That’ll give you most of the same options as the Image > Adjustments menu.

This is my SOOC. I’m sure I took it for the Blossom workshop, but can no longer remember what my goal was.

I feel something’s off with the white balance or exposure. I’m not really sure, but too many details are lost in the red of the flowers and the leaves look more on the blue side than yellow. While I adjust the levels just a bit (slider on each side just a bit in both directions, depending on the histogram) that edit doesn’t make much of a difference.

Color Balance

Using the icon at the bottom of the layer palette, I select color balance.

Really, I know there’s a science to this, but I don’t know what I’m doing, so I play it by eye. By selecting each option under Tone Balance, I adjust the sliders either way until the image looks “right” to me.

Hue/Saturation

Already, I feel this is much better! Next up, I choose Hue/Saturation from the fill/adjustment layer icon.

Again, I fiddle with the sliders until things look right to me. I repeat the process by selecting Reds, Yellows and Greens through the Edit drop-down menu. Through fiddling around, I realized reducing the saturation by 10 in the red channel allowed some of the details in the tiny flowers to show through. Frequently my flower shots seem oversaturated SOOC, so this is a good trick for me to remember.

Finishing Touches

By now, there’s a world of difference between the SOOC and the edit. I’m happy with the colors and exposure, but the whole thing seems too busy and it’s hard to miss the small bunch of flowers that are in focus. So I go for a crop and finish the whole thing by using Pioneer Woman’s Quick Edge Burn at 40% opacity.

What do you think? I opted for simplicity with this edit, which is not really like me. Believe me, it was hard not to apply a texture, but I’m trying to restrain myself.

Are you a believer in using non-destructive layers? What are some of your favorite applications of them?