Want Outdoor Photos with Perfect Color? Use This ACR Tool (VIDEO)
The Color Mixer in Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) has been a post-processing staple for years. This quick primer from the Better Pics YouTube channel take a look at “how it can help you achieve perfect color in your images.”
Instructor Damien is an Australian pro who says, “I have been fortunate to travel and work on all seven continents with camera in hand.” He’s also a popular educator appreciated for his calm, reassuring style. Today’s episode kicks off with this: “The Color Mixer tab allows you to adjust various colors with a good level of control.”
Damien opens a well-composed landscape shot with a deep blue sky and pretty golden tones in the foreground and midrange of the frame. It looks great as is but watch what happens after he opens ACR’s Color Mixer panel and significantly enhances the image while maintaining a realistic appearance.
You’ll see that there are two options at the very top, Mixer and Point Color, and Damien describes the important differences. He begins with the former, explaining that “this choice enables you to adjust HSL which represents Hue, Saturation and Luminance.” You can deal will these three attributes one at a time or select All so every slider appears within the panel at once—the layout that he prefers.
Then he demonstrates how to select and enhance specific color ranges with precision. The idea of Point Color, on the other hand, is employing the Eyedropper tool that provide a quick way to specific the exact color you want to enhance with a quick click.
Damien says the advantage of this approach is that “you’re selecting specific colors in the specific image you’re processing, rather than working with a pre-determined color range. This allows you to have a little more control and color accuracy that’s specific to the photo at hand. “Better yet, you can repeat the process as many time as you want while using the eyedropper to sample different colors within the scene until you arrive at a perfect balance and tone.
The foregoing is just a quick summary of what you’ll learn, and Damien provides all the necessary details in barely six minutes. His instructional YouTube channel is a great resource for other tips and tricks, so make sure to take a look.
And don’t miss a tutorial we featured recently with another image-editing specialist who illustrates the difference between Lightroom’s similar Remove, Heal, and Clone tools for eliminating unwanted distractions in outdoor photographs.