Commercial Photoshop Retouching: In the Studio

Brightening Images

Another typical request that I get from clients is that they feel the image color looks dull and they'd like to brighten up the image. A couple of easy ways to brighten up images are with the Hue and Saturation tool, and with the Selective color tool. Go in and take out the unwanted colors that dirty up other colors with either of these correction tools. For example, if the following colors look "dirty" or not as bright as you'd like them to, try removing the appropriate color.

• If a red color looks dirty, take out the cyan.

• If a green color looks dirty, take out the magenta.

• If a blue color looks dirty, take out the yellow.

• If a yellow color looks dirty, take out the cyan.

If you use the Saturation slider in the Hue and Saturation tool (Image → Adjustments → Hue/Saturation), shown in Figure 3-43, and slide it to your right, this tool will take out the unwanted colors for you. The Hue and Saturation tool will do all colors at once, as you can see in Figure 3-44, so it isn't all that selective about what colors will be changed.

Figure 3-43. The Photoshop Hue and Saturation tool

Figure 3-44. After applying the Hue and Saturation tool

Be careful with the Hue and Saturation tool because it can do a fair amount of damage to an image use it sparingly. It can cause the colors to ...