Adjust Photo Brightness and Contrast | Adobe Photoshop

Summary

This tutorial focuses on essential photo editing techniques to enhance lighting. It starts by teaching viewers how to identify desired changes in an image. The video then demonstrates adjusting brightness to make details more visible, by lightening a dark photo. It also covers the use of contrast to add depth and drama to an image, showing how increasing contrast makes dark areas darker and bright areas brighter. The tutorial encourages users to experiment with both brightness and contrast adjustments to achieve their desired style, emphasizing these are common and impactful editing choices.

Takeaways

• 🔍 Identify desired changes before editing to focus on specific aspects of the image.
• 🌟 Enhancing colors and cropping edges are among the many edits possible for an image.
• 💡 Adjusting lighting is one of the most essential edits for improving an image's appearance.
• 📸 A photo that looks too dark can be improved by increasing its brightness to reveal details.
• 🛠️ Adding a brightness and contrast adjustment layer is a starting point for lighting adjustments.
• ✨ Increasing brightness makes the entire photo lighter and details more visible.
• 🆚 Contrast adjustment adds depth by making dark areas darker and bright areas brighter.
• 🎨 High contrast creates a dramatic look with dark shadows and bright highlights.
• 🌈 Low contrast results in a softer, calming image with no extreme black or white tones.
• 👨‍🎨 Both brightness and contrast adjustments are often used together to achieve the desired style.
• 📚 Practice adjusting lighting on your own images to develop your editing skills.

Q & A

What is the first step recommended before starting to edit an image?

The first step is to take a moment and identify the changes you actually want to make to the image.

Why is adjusting the lighting considered an essential edit in photo editing?

Adjusting the lighting is essential because it can enhance the visibility of details in an image and improve the overall look by making it lighter or darker as needed.

What is the effect of increasing the brightness in an image that is too dark?

Increasing the brightness makes the entire photo lighter, making the details more visible and improving the overall appearance.

How does adding a brightness and contrast adjustment layer help in photo editing?

Adding a brightness and contrast adjustment layer allows you to control the lightness and darkness of an image, as well as the difference between the dark and bright areas, enhancing the details and making the photo more dramatic or calming depending on the desired effect.

What happens when you decrease the contrast in an image?

When you decrease the contrast, the dark areas become less dark and the bright areas become less bright, resulting in a flatter and washed-out look with no extreme black or white tones.

What is the purpose of increasing the contrast in a photo?

Increasing the contrast makes the dark areas darker and the bright areas brighter, creating a more dramatic and punchy look in the photo.

Why might someone choose to use a high contrast image?

A high contrast image, with super dark shadows and bright highlights, can give an intense and dramatic feel, which might be the desired style for certain projects or themes.

What is the effect of a low contrast image on the viewer's perception?

A low contrast image, with soft shades of gray and no extreme black or white tones, can feel calming and might be preferred for a more serene or subtle aesthetic.

How can brightness and contrast adjustments be used together in photo editing?

Brightness and contrast adjustments are often used together to fine-tune the lighting in an image, allowing for a balanced and visually appealing result.

What is the final advice given to the viewer regarding practicing photo editing?

The final advice is to step up and practice adjusting lighting on your own images to gain experience and improve your editing skills.

Outlines

00:00

📸 Essential Image Editing: Adjusting Lighting

This paragraph introduces the fundamental process of image editing, focusing on adjusting lighting. It emphasizes the importance of identifying desired changes before editing. The tutorial specifically targets enhancing the image's lighting by addressing issues like darkness that obscure details. The solution involves adding a 'brightness and contrast adjustment layer' to the image, which can make the photo lighter and more detailed. The paragraph also explains how adjusting brightness can make the subject stand out more vividly against the background.

🔆 Brightness and Contrast: Enhancing Image Details

This section delves into the technical aspects of using a 'brightness and contrast adjustment layer' to modify an image's lighting. It explains how increasing brightness can lighten the entire photo, making details more visible. The paragraph also discusses the role of contrast in enhancing an image's visual appeal. By adjusting the contrast, the dark areas become darker, and the bright areas become brighter, adding depth and drama to the photo. The tutorial provides a visual example of how varying the contrast slider can drastically change the image's appearance, from punchy and dramatic to extremely flat, depending on the amount of difference between dark and light areas.

Keywords

💡Editing

Editing in the context of this video refers to the process of altering and enhancing digital images to improve their visual appeal. It is central to the video's theme as it discusses various techniques to make images look perfect. The script mentions editing to enhance colors, crop edges, and adjust lighting, which are all part of the editing process to achieve the desired look.

💡Brightness

Brightness is the relative luminance of an image, which affects how light or dark it appears. In the video, adjusting brightness is highlighted as an essential edit to correct overly dark photos, making details more visible. The script provides an example where increasing brightness helps the skater's clothes stand out from the background.

💡Contrast

Contrast refers to the difference between the darkest and brightest areas of an image. It is a key concept in the video, as it defines the visual impact and drama of a photo. The script illustrates how adjusting contrast can make an image punchier by darkening the dark areas and brightening the bright areas, thus adding depth and interest.

💡Adjustment Layer

An adjustment layer is a non-destructive editing tool used in photo editing software to modify the appearance of an image without altering the original. The video mentions adding a 'brightness and contrast adjustment layer' as a method to modify the lighting of an image, which is a practical technique for achieving the desired lighting effects.

💡Lighting

Lighting in photography and image editing is crucial as it sets the mood and affects the visibility of details. The video's main theme revolves around adjusting lighting, which includes both brightness and contrast. The script uses examples of a dark photo and a flat image to demonstrate how changes in lighting can dramatically alter the perception of an image.

💡Details

Details in an image refer to the fine elements that contribute to its clarity and complexity. The script emphasizes the importance of making details visible through adjustments in brightness and contrast. For instance, the video shows how increasing brightness helps in making the skater's clothes and the surrounding buildings more discernible.

💡Dramatic Feel

A dramatic feel in photography is achieved through the use of high contrast and strong lighting effects, which can evoke intense emotions or a sense of depth. The video explains how increasing contrast can give an image a dramatic feel with super dark shadows and bright highlights, which is a stylistic choice for certain types of images.

💡Flat Image

A flat image lacks depth and contrast, making it appear washed out and less engaging. The script uses the term to describe an image before contrast adjustment, where details look a bit flat. By adjusting the contrast, the image gains depth, and the details become more pronounced, enhancing the overall visual appeal.

💡Non-Destructive Editing

Non-destructive editing is a method of editing images where the original image remains unaltered, and changes are made on separate layers or through adjustment layers. The video script mentions the use of adjustment layers, which is a non-destructive technique, allowing for flexible editing without permanent changes to the original photo.

💡Fine-Tuning

Fine-tuning refers to making small, precise adjustments to achieve the desired outcome. In the context of the video, fine-tuning is used to describe the process of adjusting brightness and contrast to perfect the lighting of an image. The script encourages viewers to explore both brightness and contrast adjustments to fine-tune the lighting to their preference.

Highlights

The tutorial focuses on adjusting lighting, a crucial edit for enhancing image quality.

Editing can range from color enhancement to cropping, but lighting adjustment is emphasized.

The original photo appears dark, making details in the skater's clothes and surroundings hard to discern.

Brightness adjustment can lighten or darken an image to improve visibility of details.

Adding a brightness and contrast adjustment layer is the first step to modify the image's lighting.

Increasing brightness makes the entire photo lighter and details more visible.

Brightness and contrast adjustment layers are essential tools for editing lighting.

Contrast adjustment adds depth by differentiating between dark and bright areas in an image.

Increasing contrast makes dark areas darker and bright areas brighter, adding drama to the photo.

Decreasing contrast results in a flatter image with less differentiation between light and dark areas.

Contrast can be adjusted based on the desired style, from dramatic to calming.

High contrast images feature dark shadows and bright highlights for an intense feel.

Low contrast images have soft shades of gray, creating a more serene visual effect.

Both brightness and contrast adjustments are often used together for comprehensive lighting edits.

The tutorial encourages practice in adjusting lighting to achieve the desired style.

Adjusting lighting is a common and impactful edit that can significantly enhance an image's appeal.

Transcripts

[Music]

foreign

wants to make their images look perfect

before we start editing the first step

is to take a moment and identify the

changes you actually want to make there

are tons of edits you can make to an

image from enhancing the colors to

cropping the edges but in this tutorial

we're going to focus on one of the most

essential edits you can make adjusting

the lighting take a look at the lighting

in this photo is there anything you'd

like to change about it you might have

noticed that the entire photo looks

pretty dark making it hard to see

details in the skater's clothes and the

buildings around him we can fix this by

adjusting the image's brightness which

can either lighten or darken an image so

let's make this happen we'll start by

adding a brightness and contrast

adjustment layer to the image since the

photo looks too dark we're going to

increase the brightness making the

entire photo lighter and the details

more visible suddenly the skaters

clothes pop out from the background and

this looks much better right if you need

to make an image lighter or darker the

brightness and contrast adjustment layer

is a great place to start another reason

to add a brightness and contrast

adjustment layer is right there in the

name contrast contrast is another

related aspect of lighting but what does

changing it really do let's look at

another example to see contrast in

action you might notice the details in

this image look a little bit flat and

washed out this is where contrast comes

into play

watch what happens when we add a

brightness and contrast adjustment layer

and move the contrast slider to the

right notice how the dark areas get

darker while the bright areas get

brighter making the entire image

punchier this is the essence of

contrasts the bigger the difference

between the dark and the bright areas

the more dramatic your photo is going to

look and we love a photo with drama just

for comparison let's move the contrast

letter back towards the left notice how

this makes the image look extremely flat

this is because we've decreased the

amount of difference between the dark

and light areas there is no right or

wrong way to use contrast sometimes a

high contrast image like this is exactly

what you want it has super dark shadows

and bright highlights given the image of

intense dramatic feel or sometimes a low

contrast image like this maybe the look

you're going for notice there are no

extreme black or white tones only soft

Shades of Gray which can feel calming

whatever style you're going for

brightness and contrast adjustments will

help you fine-tune the lighting in your

image you'll often use both brightness

and contrast adjustments together so

don't forget to explore both options

while you're editing so let's recap

adjusting lighting is one of the most

common edits you can make and you can

adjust the brightness and the contrast

to get the style that you want so now

it's your turn to step up and practice

adjusting Lighting on your own images

[Music]