Vibrance

Note: Note: Back in the “darkroom ages,” it was very difficult to adjust the contrast, saturation, or vibrancy of photochemical-based color prints. Available color paper brands and types offered limited contrast variation. The ability to adjust the contrast, vibrancy, and saturation of digital images is a blessing—and a curse. I witness many photographers who greatly oversaturate their images. Oversaturation feeds the human brain’s desire for bright, shiny things. Unfortunately, it also destroys many of the more subtle colors and tones that can make color photographs truly beautiful. I use Vibrancy to enhance the saturation of my images, but very sparingly. I use the Vibrancy/Saturation adjustment layer to accomplish this, but I rarely touch the Saturation slider.

Vibrance affects the less saturated tones in the image, whereas Saturation adjusts all the tones—already saturated or not. A minimal increase in Vibrance can enhance your images without destroying the more understated colors. I usually keep my Vibrance adjustments in the +10 to -10 range on the Vibrance slider. I almost never touch the Saturation slider.

Setting the Image's Vibrance Level

The Vibrance Dialog Box.

Go to Layer  >  New Adjustment Layer  >  Vibrance.

Make sure the Mode is set to Normal.

Setting the image's Vibrance level is the last step in the color correction routine.

Adjusting Vibrance or Saturation with Curves is difficult, so we use the Vibrance adjustment instead. Be conservative with the Vibrance adjustment to avoid altering the previously set white point, black point, midtone point, ¼- and ¾-tone points, and individual channel adjustments. We do not want to undo the good we have done.

New Vibrance Adjustment Layer

Adjust Vibrance

Adjust Vibrance visually until it looks realistic.

The Vibrance adjustment uses a scale from -100 to +100. Unfortunately, these numbers are not directly related to ink percentage or RGB values. This is a visual adjustment, and it is the only step in the Tone system that has no relation to the RGB values. That means techniques like the Kenly 3•6•9 rule won’t work as well—though I still typically limit my adjustment range to +10 to -10 on the slider scale. You can check and uncheck the Preview eye icon to see the effects of your Vibrance adjustment. It is easy to over-saturate your images with Vibrance or Saturation, so use caution! When in doubt, leave Vibrance and Saturation alone.

Vibrance/Saturation Dialog Box