Adjustment Layers | Take Great Pictures

Adjustment Layers

by Dave Cross
Why You Should Use Them

Article rating: 8.58

Both Photoshop CS and Photoshop Elements have adjustment layers – here’s an overview of the reasons why you should use them, rather than making adjustments directly to the image itself.

An Adjustment Layer Is Not Permanent

When you pick an adjustment layer from the Layers palette, a special layer is added that affects the background image but does not permanently change it.

You can always hide the adjustment layer,

lower the opacity to make the effect less obvious,

change the Blend mode to alter the effect it has,

double-click on it and change the settings, or throw it away completely. This is an ideal solution when you are printing and trying to tweak your colors. Using an adjustment layer, make an adjustment, then print. If you’re not satisfied, double-click on the adjustment layer, make changes, then print again.

You Can Add Multiple Adjustment Layers

In this example, 3 different adjustment layers were added to the same image (in Photoshop Elements 3). By playing with the order, or hiding individual adjustment layers, you can experiment with a wide range of adjustments.

You Can Affect Only Certain Areas If You Want

Adjustment layers automatically have a layer mask “attached”. By default the mask is filled with white, which causes the adjustment layer to affect to entire image. If there are any areas you don’t want the adjustment to change, just paint those areas with black.

Or, make a selection before you add an adjustment layer and only the selected area will be affected. In this example, we made a feathered selection around the bird and then chose Select>Inverse to select the outside area. Then we added a Levels adjustment layer and lightened just the selected area.

If you ever want to “turn off” the layer mask, hold down Shift and click on the mask thumbnail (Shift click again to turn it back on again).

Here's Two Examples Of How We Can Use Adjustment Layers To Alter Specific Areas Of An Image:

Here we added a Levels adjustment layer and clicked OK without making any adjustments. Then we changed the Blend mode to Screen, which lightened the entire image.

Next we filled the layer mask with black to completely hide the effects of the Blend mode.

Finally we painted with white the areas of the tire that we wanted to be brighter.

In this example we added a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer, with the goal of changing the boy’s shirt color. As the Hue was changed, the entire image changed color – and looked really bad.

Again, we filled the layer mask with black to hide the effects of the adjustment layer,

then painted with white only over his shirt so that area was affected by the Hue/Saturation adjustment layer.

Then we can easily double-click on the adjustment layer and change the Hue and Saturation settings to change to just about any color we want – without changing the rest of the image, and without making a permanent change to the original background.

Should you always use adjustment layers, without exceptions? Perhaps not, but at the very least you should always consider using them, to give yourself the highest level of flexibility and control.

Dave Cross works for the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) where he writes for Photoshop User Magazine, creates videos for the member’s web site, is featured on a series on instructional DVDs and is Executive Editor of Photoshop Elements Techniques Newsletter. He is also co-author of the Photoshop World Dream Team Book.