Adobe Photoshop, 2nd Edition, 2nd Edition

Lesson D: Vibrance & Hue/Saturation

There are several adjustments that affect the saturation of an image, and in this lesson we’ll discuss two. As always in this book, you’ll learn the foundations and rationale here and then you can deepen your knowledge in the Compendium. For this lesson, the good parts to reference are “Vibrance” (page 242) and “Hue/Saturation” (page 243).

Definition of Saturation

Saturation is a measure of the purity of a hue. Think of the light from a laser. It’s impressively intense and vibrant—its color is purely of one wavelength, the ultimate saturated color. The color of an old incandescent bulb is a mix of yellows, reds, and oranges. Since it’s not as pure a hue as the laser, we’d say it’s less saturated. Full-spectrum ...