Levels Adjustment for Photography in Photoshop

[JodyBuchanan]

When it comes to making minor color and exposure adjustments in Photoshop, the Levels adjustment tool can come in quite handily. If you read the post on editing brightness and contrast, then you already know where the Adjustment panel resides. If not, I suggest you check out that post or simply continue to read on below. I’m bound to include it in a screenshot or two.

In today’s post, I’ll be talking about how to use the Levels adjustment panel, along with an example photo’s histogram, to alter the look of a sample photograph. Now, before we begin, I want you to know that there are no hard and fast rules for this type of editing. While there are some assistive devices available to us that can lead us in the right direction, much of what we do will depend on our desired output.

The Levels Adjustment Panel​

Since I covered so much of what an adjustment layer is in my previous post, I won’t go over it again. But what I will do is explain how to open the Levels adjustment panel, which, in turn, creates a new adjustment layer.



If you take a look inside the Adjustments panel in the above screenshot, you’ll see a small red circle that has a button right in the center of it. If you roll over this button, a small popup will appear that says Create a new adjustment layer. This is the one you want to click. Once you do this, the Levels panel will appear to the left of the Adjustments panel. Also, you should notice that a new layer appeared in the Layers panel. This is the adjustment layer. By making adjustments, such as the ones we’ll soon make, inside a separate layer, our edits will remain non-destructive, meaning, if we edit and edit and then want to throw all of our edits away and start over again, all we need to do is to delete that adjustment layer.

The Histograms​

I talk about histograms quite a bit on this website. If you want to read up on them, please take a look at these posts:

How To Use Your Camera Histogram For Awesome Photos

Fixing Under & Overexposure With Adobe Camera Raw

Basically, a histogram is a graphical representation of a range of data. That data can be how many pixels are light and how many are dark, how many are red, green, blue, etc…Looking at a histogram and using it while taking photographs with a DSLR camera or editing images in applications such as Lightroom, Camera Raw or Photoshop can be extremely helpful. Sometimes, what we can’t see with our eyes is visible through the use of a histogram. Let’s take a closer look at the ones that represent our sample photograph.



As you can see, I did a bit of Photoshop trickery and included all four histograms in one screenshot. These histograms (from top to bottom) represent all RBG colors, and then the individual red, green and blue colors.

Now, the histograms for my example photo look pretty good. There’s no wildly awful aspects of them. The majority of the data for all four of them lie toward the center of the graphs and there isn’t anything that leans too far one way or the other. That’s a good thing. Sure, there are leans, but nothing terrible.

How To Adjust Levels​

In this section, I’m going to quickly explain the method of how to go about making adjustments to our levels. I’m not going to get into actually doing anything, just how we would do something if we wanted to.

If you take a look at any of the histograms in the screenshots above, you’ll notice three small upward facing triangles directly below the graphs themselves. These are sliders. By moving them to the left and to the right, you can adjust the blacks, the mid-tones and the whites of an image. With just a flick of the wrist, you can edit the brightness, contrast, and tonal range of a photograph by altering and defining the location of complete black, mid-tones and complete white of that photograph.

Adjusting Exposure & Contrast​

Like I mentioned above, there really isn’t anything all too wrong with my example photo. I do, however, want to show you how you would go about adjusting a photograph’s exposure and contrast.

Let’s say we have a histogram that’s curve is seriously centered. There is virtually no data on either side of the curve. This photo may appear washed out. By moving the black and the white sliders more towards the center of the graph, we can increase or decrease the exposure of the photo and enhance the contrast. Also, by positioning the mid-tones slider so it sits more towards or away from the center of the curve itself, the colors in the photo can appear more saturated. Let me show you by moving my photo’s sliders a bit.



I moved the sliders some, but I’m starting to think my photo is looking a little weird. I can’t put my finger on it. I wonder if there is a tool that can help in situations like this. Situations were the photo is really busy and there are tons of highs and lows. Actually, I think we’re in luck.

The Levels Clipping Warning​

Within the Levels adjustment tool, we’ve got a really neat feature. While moving the sliders I described above around, we can have a lot of fun, but how do we know if we’ve gone too far? For example, in my example photograph, I can move the sliders all day long without really knowing if I’ve moved them to such a degree as to lose any detail. If you’ve already opened your install of Photoshop and have adjusted a photo with this tool, you surely know that it’s really easy to make your image look rather crazy. The thing is, the more we use tools like this, the more our eyes become used to our edits. There’s a real danger of saving a final image that’s just nuts. What I mean is, if someone walked by and looked at your monitor, they’d say “Whoa!”

Enter the clipping warning tool. Here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to hold down my ALT key and then click on the left black slider. I’ll slide it to the right some and show you what happens via a screenshot.



Now that looks weird. What happened was Photoshop has created a way for us to see what areas are losing detail as we move our sliders back and forth. The same works for the white slider. If I were to keep my black slider all the way to the left, the graphic would appear completely white. The more I move it to the right, the more I’ll see the colors of the image that are losing data. The goal is to lose very little data while adjusting our levels.

Adjusting Colors With Red, Green & Blue​

While I’m not going to offer any screenshots or examples in this section, I will tell you that I’ve already explained the basic gist of what you can accomplish with the Levels adjustment. You can click the drop-down box that sits directly above the histogram to select a color to edit and use the sliders to make your changes. Try it, practice and let me know how it goes down in the comment section below.

 

[JodyBuchanan]

Revealing Contrast & Color with a Levels Adjustment in Adobe Photoshop​

I’d like to briefly follow up on my last post that had to so with adding or removing contrast and exposure via the Levels adjustment in Adobe Photoshop. The reason I’d like to discuss the topic again is twofold. First, I have a photograph this time and the photo has an awesome bell curve that I want you to see, and second, I’d like to talk about the Red, Green and Blue variables that are available for adjustment in the respective Properties panel as well. These three additional opportunities can add a completely new look to any image or video clip and it’s important you know they’re there.

In today’s post, I’d like to work toward correcting an image using a Levels adjustment layer in Adobe Photoshop. This won’t be an in-depth post; it’ll merely be a review of a topic we’re already familiar with. All I’d like to do is follow the necessary steps that will give the photo I’m working on some more contrast and exposure. I’ll also explain how to go about making adjustments to each separate color as well.

Today’s Demo Photo​

Believe it or not, this image has lots of potential. While it looks somewhat washed out here, I believe that I can breathe some life into it. Although, it is beautiful the way it is and I’m sure many folks out there would agree with that sentiment.

Applying the Levels Adjustment Layer​

Okay, the image has already been opened up in Photoshop and I’m ready to apply the Levels adjustment layer. As I demonstrated in my last post, all I need to do is head up to the Adjustments panel and click the Levels icon. Doing so will add a new adjustment layer directly above the image layer in the Layers panel.



As you can see from the above screenshot, the new layer has appeared and the accompanying Properties panel has appeared as well. Next, I’ll make the adjustments.

Adjusting the Image via the Properties Panel​

Inside of the Properties panel is that curve I referred to above. It’s pretty nice and it’s going to be easy to fix the contrast and exposure.

We know the rule. Place the center point under the center of the curve and then move the two outer points towards the middle. I’ll do that now. Let’s see the results.



Moving the gray center point to the left brightens the midtones and moving it to the right darkens them. Moving the black left point to the right darkens the shadows white moving the white right point to the left brightens the highlights. Here’s the image after this simple adjustment.



This is great, but is there more I can do to make the photo look even better?

Further Adjustments to the Red, Green & Blue Colors Separately​

If I click the RGB drop-down box that sits right above the curve in the Properties panel, I’ll have the ability to isolate each color for individual adjustment.



To let you know, as I click through the colors, the curve in the panel changes. The rules hold true for each color as well, regarding the movable points. If I go ahead and choose a color and then slide the center point to the left, I’ll see that color added to the image. As I move the other points, I’ll see changes as well. This is the perfect way to add warmth or coolness to a photo. Also, it’s a great way to correct an image that has too much of one color or another.

I just made some slight adjustments with these colors and this is the final output. While it does look almost identical to the last photo I posted above, it is slightly more saturated with color.



My point with this post was to show you how much you can accomplish with one straightforward adjustment layer. As long as the image you’re working on is in fairly good shape, you can add a lot of interest to it via the Levels adjustment.

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I hope I clearly explained how to use the Levels adjustment layer in Adobe Photoshop to enhance the look of an photograph. If you have any questions regarding this post, please leave them for me in the comment section down below. Thanks for reading!

 

[JodyBuchanan]

Adjusting an Image with Auto Levels in Adobe Photoshop​

I’ll be honest with you. Many photo editors work very quickly. They don’t get bogged down with trying to move sliders around in the most minute ways. They make big bold adjustments and then refine them as they go. One of the best methods for making a bold edit is to use Auto buttons when available. When you click on an Auto button, Photoshop decides what would look best for the scene based on an algorithm. Since the algorithm can’t tell what type of look you’re actually going for, further adjustments may be necessary. But really, taking advantage of an editing application’s automated correction feature can take a lot of work out of an edit.

In today’s very brief post, I’d like to follow up on what I shared yesterday. I’ll apply a Levels adjustment layer to an photograph of a fighter jet that looks like it needs some contrast. Within the Properties panel of the Levels adjustment, I’ll click on the Auto button to see how Adobe Photoshop would go about correcting the image. If I like the way it looks, I’ll leave it there. If I think it needs a bit more in the way of contrast or anything else, I’ll make those adjustments. This post is primarily meant to demonstrate how we, as editors, don’t need to start at the very beginning every single time we want to edit something. These applications we work in can save us a lot of time.

Today’s Demo Image​

Here’s what I have for today. I’m sure a lot can be done with this, but all I’m concerned with right now is adding a bit of flavor in the way of contrast, lightness and darkness where it matters.

Applying a Levels Auto Adjustment​

I’m going to follow all the same steps to add the Levels adjustment layer as I did in my previous post. If you aren’t familiar with these steps, please go ahead and read through that here. Ignore the fact that I used a video clip in the previous demonstration. The steps are the same, whether it’s a video or image.

I’ve gone ahead and added the adjustment layer. The new layer is in position and the Properties panel is open.



As you can see from the above screenshot, I circled the Auto button in red. This is the button I’ll be clicking on in just a moment. Before I do that though, I would like to point out the histogram in this panel. Notice how there’s some dead space on either side of it. If I had to guess, Photoshop is going to move the black and white sliders inward, towards the spots where the curves begin. Just a hunch. Now let’s see what happens after I push the button.



Just as I suspected, the black and white sliders changed position to the points of being near just where the curves begin. The center midtones slider also moved. This is the important one; you can push this gray slider to make the overall image lighter or darker. I’ll go ahead now and make a few additional adjustments with these sliders until I find something I like. At least I have a starting point. I’ll also make some adjustments with the individual colors in the RGB drop-down, just as I did in my previous post. Let’s see what I can come up with.



How does that look? Not bad considering I did all this with just one adjustment layer. I began with the Auto button and then worked my way through the remaining options. This is the way many editors make changes to their photographs. As I said above, this process can save a lot of time and give some extra confidence while making changes. If you have any questions regarding this post, please let me know in the comment section below or in the discussion forum. Thanks for reading!

 

[JodyBuchanan]

How to Use the Levels Adjustment Layer in Photoshop​

I recently wrote a few pretty decent posts on this. You can check them out here:

Fixing Video That’s Too Bright or Too Dark in Adobe Photoshop

Adjusting an Image with Auto Levels in Adobe Photoshop

Those posts were a bit to read through, so I thought I’d write a condensed summary here, so here goes.

To apply a Levels adjustment layer in an effort to either brighten or darken an image, follow these instructions. This adjustment layer also helps with adding or removing contrast.

– Open your photograph in Adobe Photoshop.

– In the Adjustments panel, click the Levels icon.

– In the Properties panel that pops open, push the black, white and gray sliders under the histogram to the left or to the right until you see your desired result.

– Push the sliders attached to the black to white gradient bar underneath the previous sliders for additional results.

– Use the Auto button for a result that’s suggested by Photoshop.

– To adjust the Reds, Greens or Blues in the photo, click on the RGB drop-down and make your color selection. Then, push the respective sliders for those colors.

This is a nice short summary. For further instructions, please visit the blog posts.