In this tutorial, I will show how easy it is to adjust lightness for your photos by using the LAB Mode in Photoshop. You can apply this tutorial to any photo you like.

We will also explore the use of layer blending options, hue/saturation tool and various filters in Photoshop.

Here is a before and after comparison of the photos:

Before:

After:

OK let’s get started!

Step 1

Grab a photo of your choice. You can use the before image above if you like (It’s of my own stock so no worries). Load it into Photoshop and hit Ctrl + U to bring up the Hue/Saturation adjustment tool and use the following settings:

Step 2

Go to Image > Mode > Lab Color and change the colour mode of the photo to “LAB” (see image below)

Then go to the Channel Palette and select the “Lightness” Channel (see image below)

While the “Lightness” Channel is selected, go to Filter > Sharpen > Smart Sharpen and apply the following settings: (Make sure you select the “Advanced” option)

Sharpen

Shadow

You should now have the following image:

Step 3

We can add a bit of softness to the photo. Switch back to RGB mode, then duplicate the background layer once. On the duplicated layer, apply “Accented Edges” filter. See image below for details:

Then change the layer blending option of this layer to “Soft Light”

Optional: You may use the dodge/burn tool to further edit the lightness on the dupliated layer.

Here is the effect so far:

That’s for this tutorial! Isn’t that easy?!

I know there are many other way of adjusting lightness in Photoshop, so if you have any good ideas, you’re more welcome to share them here!

With the final version of this work, I added some colour overlays and further edit the lighting contrast:

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial. Thanks very much and have a great day!