Adobe PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS 2 User Manual page 74

CHAPTER 4
66
Fixing Your Photos
Using the Color Variations command
The Color Variations command lets you adjust the
color balance, contrast, and saturation of an image
by selecting previews that show the effect of
different adjustments.
This command is most useful for average-
key images that don't require precise color
adjustments.
Note: You can't use the Color Variations command
with images in Indexed Color mode.
To use the Color Variations command:
Do one of the following:
1
To make adjustments to your entire image,
•
choose Select > Deselect to make sure nothing is
selected. If your image has multiple layers, select
a layer to adjust in the Layers palette.
To make adjustments to a portion of your
•
image, make a selection in the document
window. See "Selecting pixels" on page 114.
To open the Color Variations dialog box, you
2
can either choose Enhance > Adjust Color > Color
Variations, or click the Color Variations button
in the Shortcuts bar.
The two thumbnails at the top of the dialog box
show the original image (Before) and the image
with its currently selected adjustments (After).
When you first open the dialog box, these two
images are the same. As you make adjustments, the
After image changes to reflect your choices.
Select what to adjust in the image:
3
Shadows, Midtones, or Highlights to indicate
•
whether you want to adjust the dark, middle, or
light areas.
• Saturation to change the vividness of color in
the image.
4 Drag the Adjust Color Intensity slider to
determine the amount of each adjustment.
Dragging the slider to the left decreases the
amount, and dragging to the right increases it.
5 With either the Midtones, Shadows, or
Highlights option selected, do either of the
following:
• To add a color to the image, click the appro-
priate Increase color thumbnail.
• To subtract a color, click the appropriate
Decrease color thumbnail.
Each time you click a thumbnail, all thumbnails
are updated.
6 With the Saturation option selected, click either
the Less Saturation or More Saturation buttons.
7 To undo or redo adjustments made in the Color
Variations dialog box, you can do any of the
following:
• Click Reset Image to start over and undo all
adjustments you've set in the current Color
Variations dialog box.
• Click Undo once or multiple times for each
successive adjustment you'd like to undo. You
cannot undo the Reset Image option.
• Click Redo once or multiple times for each
adjustment you'd like to redo that was undone.
8 To apply the adjustments to your image,
click OK.