Photoshop How To

In the below video, Photoshop expert Unmesh Dinda of PiXimperfect will show you how to shape your colors in Photoshop to make them pop using a “secret code.” Well, it’s not so secret actually, and it’s not really a code but it will give your photos a striking, vibrant look.

“Honestly, it’s just a neutral value but it’s extremely important,” Dinda explains. “This is a trick that I’ve taught you before and it’s about changing the luminosity of the colors without touching or doing anything to the color, keeping the color intact. And that is something we do by creating a black-and-white adjustment layer (in Photoshop).”

The “code” is a series of number values he instructs you to put in for the various color sliders to get the bright but not overly saturated look in your image. He then shows you similar ways to do it using Curves or even Solid Color. Dinda then explains the concept of Difference blend mode in Photoshop, and how it helped him discover this technique.

As usual it’s a solid and helpful Photoshop tutorial, and Dinda lets you follow along and try it yourself using his sample image, which you can download for free here.

Watch more of Dinda’s excellent software tutorials on the PiXimperfect channel.