Post by Stevewebb on Oct 20, 2012 9:04:43 GMT
Make Your Image POP with LAB Color
To construct the colors we see in the world and display them, a color model—sometimes called a color space—is used. Two of the most common color spaces are RGB and CMYK. The RGB—or Red, Green and Blue—color space is used to display photos on a monitor. The CMYK—or Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black—color space is primarily used for printing. You may not know as much about the LAB color space, which is structured in three channels:
-The L channel contains luminance information. Luminance is another way of referring to the black and white data in a photo.
-The A channel provides information about greens and magentas.
-The B channel provides information about yellows and blues.
We can use a very simple method using a LAB color adjustment to give images much more punch.
Open your image in photoshop as normal.
Change the color space by clicking on Image > Mode > LAB Color
Next we need to apply the color space by clicking on Image > Apply Image
The blend mode will normally default to Multiply and this makes your image look very dark, but don’t panic. Change the blend mode to soft light and you will see a dramatic change to your original image.
Now we can play with a couple of variables to get the best look for our image. Try clicking on LAB, A and B and see the different looks it gives the image. Just for fun you can click on Lightness but this normally has some pretty crazy results.
For this image I went for the B channel as it gives the image the nice golden glow of a late summer day. I also dropped the opacity to 75% to get the look just perfect. The normal opacity range I would recommend for this technique is between 50% and 75%.
The last thing we have to do is convert the color space back to RGB by clicking on Image > Mode > RGB Color
And hey presto, you are done. The LAB color adjustment is a fantastic way to give you image real punch in just a few very easy steps.
To construct the colors we see in the world and display them, a color model—sometimes called a color space—is used. Two of the most common color spaces are RGB and CMYK. The RGB—or Red, Green and Blue—color space is used to display photos on a monitor. The CMYK—or Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black—color space is primarily used for printing. You may not know as much about the LAB color space, which is structured in three channels:
-The L channel contains luminance information. Luminance is another way of referring to the black and white data in a photo.
-The A channel provides information about greens and magentas.
-The B channel provides information about yellows and blues.
We can use a very simple method using a LAB color adjustment to give images much more punch.
Open your image in photoshop as normal.
Change the color space by clicking on Image > Mode > LAB Color
Next we need to apply the color space by clicking on Image > Apply Image
The blend mode will normally default to Multiply and this makes your image look very dark, but don’t panic. Change the blend mode to soft light and you will see a dramatic change to your original image.
Now we can play with a couple of variables to get the best look for our image. Try clicking on LAB, A and B and see the different looks it gives the image. Just for fun you can click on Lightness but this normally has some pretty crazy results.
For this image I went for the B channel as it gives the image the nice golden glow of a late summer day. I also dropped the opacity to 75% to get the look just perfect. The normal opacity range I would recommend for this technique is between 50% and 75%.
The last thing we have to do is convert the color space back to RGB by clicking on Image > Mode > RGB Color
And hey presto, you are done. The LAB color adjustment is a fantastic way to give you image real punch in just a few very easy steps.