Controlling contrast: adjustment layers

You won’t have access to the Channel Mixer if you’re using Photoshop Elements, but you can achieve similar results using Hue/Saturation adjustment layers. This method offers three advantages: first, you can see the results of your adjustments ‘live’; second, you can show or hide the effect to compare before and after versions; and third, it’s easy to modify or undo your adjustments at any time after you’ve made them. The results you get from this method can be subtly different to those you get from the Channel Mixer, but in the end it’s simply a different way of working, rather than a fundamentally different effect, so try both out to see which you prefer.

BEFORE.Here’s our original colour image. Because we’re using adjustment layers, the image itself is unchanged throughout the whole process, so every edit can be undone or altered.

‘Live’ tonal adjustments

This technique requires two Hue/Saturation adjustment layers. In the top-most layer, you simply need to reduce Saturation to its minimum value (-100). This isn’t necessarily the best way to convert colour to mono, as we saw earlier, but the tonal adjustments that we’ll carry out in the Hue/Saturation layer directly below will make up for this. To darken a blue sky, choose Blues from the drop-down Edit menu in the second adjustment layer’s dialog, and drag the Lightness slider left down to -100. You can fine-tune the adjustment by using the eyedropper to click on a particular shade of blue in the sky.

Blues

Here we’ve darkened the blue sky by adding a second Hue/Saturation adjustment layer and reducing the Lightness value of the Blues. Not bad, but we’ve still got some work to do.

Greens

The grass is still a bit dark for our liking, so we choose Greens from 
the Edit menu, click on the grass with the eyedropper, and push the Lightness value right up to 100.

Strongest effect

You may have to look closely to see the subtle differences these adjustments make. Here’s a way to make them stronger: introduce a third Hue/Saturation adjustment layer directly below the other two, then increase the Saturation value as far as you can before noise sets in.