Sometimes while editing, I want to boost the contrast of an image without increasing the Saturation and enhancing color casts. In this tutorial, I’ll show you how adding Contrast in Luminosity blend mode can help you do just that!

Step 1.

– Click the Adjustment Layer button at the bottom of your layers panel. (half-black, half-white circle button)

Step 2.

– From the flyout menu, select ‘Brightness/Contrast’. (You can also use any other adjustment layer you prefer to add contrast.)

Step 3.

– When the ‘Brightness/Contrast’ area pops up, slide the Contrast bar to the right until you like the effect. Notice how the color casts increase with the raised contrast.

Step 4.

– After increasing the contrast, click the box at the top of your layers panel that says ‘Normal’ and from the flyout menu, select ‘Luminosity’.

Step 5.

– After changing the blend mode to Luminosity, you’ll see that instead of affecting the saturation or vibrance of your image, the contrast is applied only to the highlights and shadows. You can adjust the opacity of this layer to reduce the overall effect.

Step 6.

– In the center image you can see our starting point. The photo on the left shows the image after increasing the Contrast to +50 while it’s still in Normal blend mode. This increases the overall contrast and strongly affects the color casts in the image. The photo on the right shows the image after adding +50 contrast and changing the blend mode to ‘Luminosity’, the color casts are not enhanced in Luminosity blend mode, as only the highlights and shadows are affected.

Try this tip and see how you like it!

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