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Here’s another Photoshop tool that is deceptively easy to administer-it has just three Sliders-but can be used produce incredibly powerful Layer Masks or to effectively and accurately compensate for Color Temperature and other global bias issues (local issues too, if you Layer Mask). Welcome to “Colorize” in your Hue/Saturation (Ctl-U) Dialogue Box!

In the Hue/Saturation (Ctl-U) Dialogue Box is an often ignored check box, “Colorize.” While some Photoshop controls are ignored because they’re inconspicuous, Colorize is often ignored because so few people know what to do with an image that is so…corrupted. After all, how many of you have really needed a monochromatic Gradient Map? Colorize is a technique more at home in graphic arts than classic photography.

Click for a larger image.

The Hue control simply refers to an angle on the standard Color Wheel. Saturation adjusts the color locus along the specified radius (Hue), and Lightness is self-explanatory. You’re probably thinking “HSL”…exactly! Your working color is indicated in the lower “Result” bar in the Dialogue Box-in the case above, the solid Reddish bar below the Spectral continuum.

Please allow me to quiz you. Here are a few scenarios for your consideration:

• You have R, G, and B Channels. What if you wanted a 177/00/108 Channel or Layer (no, I’m not talking about a Spot Channel)-how could you produce such a Layer or emulate such a “Channel” so that it is manageable using Filters and Image>Adjustments with independent Luminance control?
• How would a 07/145/34 result be produced using the Hue angle (how would you translate between the two specifications)?
• If you (as I do) consider Contrast to be the fundamental control for Layer Mask Construction, how might a biased Layer be used to aid in prejudicial selection of, for example, Red between the Luminances of 60 and 90, junctioned with Blue between 85 and 90? There are certainly multiple paths to the goal, but some are tedious and some are elegant. A Colorized Layer or two might qualify as “elegant.” Yes, it is possible, and yes, there is a bona fide application for such weirdness!
• Extra Credit: If you have a Color Temperature bias of 3800K, what color and Blending Mode (Hint: It rhymes with “Hue”) could be used to to produce such a compensation. Can it be automated in Actions? Is Layer Opacity really that important?

It would take me several posts to comprehensively address each of the techniques I’m trying to extract from you above. By any measure, if you can navigate your way to an efficient, efficacious resolution to all of these questions, you are well on your way to the status of “expert,” for whatever that’s worth.
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