Hidden Luminosity Mask trick in Photoshop | [DEV] Schenectady Photographic Society

Hidden use of Black and White to fix color

Photoshop tools are designed to do certain things. Sometimes, with some imagination, we can use them in different ways than intended to get some really useful results. I love to experiment and try things, and here is something I came up with, that I use quite a bit. This is a case of using Black and White, to darken and lighten COLORS!.

Here is the starting photo. Notice how the background is very bright and saturated and fights with the subject for attention.

Let’s tone the background colors using an unexpected way.

In the Layers panel, click on new adjustment layer

Choose Back and White

The image will change to grayscale.

You typically move the sliders to adjust the tones in the color areas to get a better black and white conversion.

We are going to keep the image color, but use the sliders to darken or lighten the colors.

Change the blend mode to Luminosity, so only the brightness will change and not the colors.

You will already see a difference because the sliders aren’t in a neutral position.

Move the slider in the reds to lighten or darken skin tones. This has a lot of other uses, from making sunburn and more.

Also move the yellow and green sliders to darken the foliage in the background and make the color more cinematic.

Of course, you will use this on your own photos and adjust in a way that is personally pleasing for you (Just because I like this style of color grade doesn’t mean everyone does. The cool part is you get to adjust how you want).