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Make a color adjustment

All Photoshop color adjustment tools work essentially the same way; they map an existing range of pixel values to a new range of values. The difference between the tools is the amount of control they provide. Color adjustment tools and their option settings are accessed in the Adjustments panel. For an overview of the color adjustment tools, see Color adjustment commands.

You can adjust the color in an image in different ways. The most flexible method is to use an adjustment layer. When you select a color adjustment tool in the Adjustments panel, Photoshop automatically creates an adjustment layer. Adjustment layers let you experiment with color and tonal adjustments without permanently modifying the pixels in the image. The color and tonal changes reside within the adjustment layer, which acts as a veil through which the underlying image layers appear.

  1. If you want to make adjustments to a portion of your image, select that portion. If you make no selection, the adjustment is applied to the entire image.
  2. Do one of the following:

    • Click an adjustment icon or select an adjustment preset in the Adjustments panel.

    • Create an adjustment layer. See Create adjustment and fill layers.

    • Double-click the thumbnail of an existing adjustment layer in the Layers panel.

    Note: You can also choose Image > Adjustments, and choose a command from the submenu to apply adjustments directly to the image layer. Keep in mind that this method discards image information.

    A new adjustment layer includes a layer mask, which by default is empty (or white), meaning that your adjustment is applied to the entire image. (If you have an active selection on the image when you add an adjustment layer, the initial layer mask masks out the unselected area in black.) Using the Brush tool, you can paint black areas on the mask where you don’t want the adjustment to affect the image. See Edit a layer mask.

  3. To toggle the view of your image with and without adjustments, click the Toggle Layer Visibility icon  in the Adjustments panel.
    To cancel changes, click the Reset button  in the Adjustments panel.