Photoshop Textures - Be wary of of your RGB Saturation
For those of you that frequently use RGB saturation as a technique to boost color in your photoshop textures, check out a recent blog by Brian Auer, on Epic Edits Weblog, where he explains the use of LAB saturation, as opposed to RGB. Although RGB saturation is easier (my technique of choice … apparently I’m lazy), there are definite drawbacks, including diminishing tone details and texture!
Here is how Brian made his case for LAB:
“Saturation is one of those things that we tend to either ignore or overdo. In some color images, it’s the actual colors that account for the interesting-factor — and in those cases, saturation processing is very important. I have the sneaking suspicion that most of us (yes, I’m at fault too) will use an RGB saturation adjustment layer (or an ACR adjustment) to boost the color saturation. This is probably OK for very small adjustments on the order of less than 5 or 10%. Once you go beyond that, you’ll start clipping the color highlights and end up losing tone details and textures. But have no fear, there is a better way! The LAB (Lightness, A, B) color mode is quite useful for making higher quality adjustments to the saturation. I’m guessing that most will avoid LAB editing because it seems less intuitive, or because there’s no immediate need to use it. In reality, it’s no more difficult to use than the RGB color mode.”
The blog also gives great step by step instructions for using LAB on your photoshop textures! I haven’t given it a shot yet. Anyone who gives it a try, I would love to hear some feedback!
The link is located below …
http://blog.epicedits.com/2007/12/20/photoshop-technique-lab-saturation-adjustments/
