Learn to love levels
TOUCH-UP THE TONE OF YOUR IMAGE AND EDIT COLOUR NON-DESTRUCTIVELY.
ADJUSTMENT LAYERS ARE one of the simpler concepts of Elements, but that doesn’t mean they are any less pivotal for your editing endeavours. The adjustment layers are basic tools that control the colour, lightness and the tone of your pictures, and they can all be masked so that you can pinpoint your adjustments to specific parts of your images.
Levels in particular are one of the most important adjustments in Elements. The adjustment enables you to alter the tone of your picture – the whites, the blacks, the darker and the lighter shades – and by using the RGB channel drop-down menu, you are able to target the red, green and blue tones in the pictures, in addition to the dark and light shades.
The Levels adjustment is so great because it’s so simple. It’s really easy to use thanks to its stoppers, and by tweaking the contrast, brightness and colour, you can completely transform the look of your photo, whether you’re looking to correct colour, simply edit the brightness, or maybe create a special finish, such as a retro lomo effect.
Don’t just stop with the Levels, either. The best thing about the adjustment layers is that you can use lots of them in combination with each other to enhance your image as a whole. You can group them, you can reduce their opacity and you can change their blend modes. Experiment with the adjustments and get an idea of what you can achieve.