STEP BY STEP LAB MODE COLOUR CHANGES

Convert your photos to LAB mode then get to grips with amazing colour-changing edits

01 SWITCH TO LAB

Go to Image>mode>lab Color. If your shot has a few layers, press Cmd/ctrl+shift+alt+e to merge a copy of the layers, then right-click the layer and ‘Convert to Smart Object’. Double-click the Smart Object thumbnail to open it in a new window, then convert this to LAB.

02 TARGET THE A CHANNEL

Go to the Layers panel and click the Adjustment Layer icon. Choose Curves. Expand the Properties panel to display a large graph. Click on the channel dropdown (where it says Lightness) and choose A. This represents the green-magenta spectrum of colours.

03 BOOST THE GREENS

Drag the black and white arrows along the bottom of the graph in by equal amounts, ensuring the diagonal line intersects the centre of the graph (if it doesn’t stay over the centre, the colours will shift).the result is a powerful, natural-looking, boost to the greens.

04 SQUEEZE THE B CHANNEL

Next, go to the channel dropdown and choose the B channel. This controls the yellow-blue spectrum of colours. Repeat by dragging the arrows in (or, drag the top and bottom points on the curve line). The further inwards you drag, the stronger the boost in colour.

05 INCREASE THE CONTRAST

The Lightness channel lets us change the luminance values in the image without affecting the colours. Drag a point near the top of the line upwards, and a second point downwards to boost the contrast with a shallow S-shaped curve.

06 FINE-TUNE WITH A MASK

If you find parts of the shot look over-saturated you can reduce the effect by painting on the layer mask attached to the Curves layer. Highlight the mask thumbnail, grab the brush tool, set colour to black and brush opacity to 20%, then paint to soften the effect.