LAB color enhancement

Have you ever tried to use the different color modes on Photoshop? Today I will be sharing how to make the color pop out of your dull photos. Let’s start by defining what LAB color space in color mode is.

On how I understand it, its just like 3 channels, one with Lightness, second called “A” and third called “B”… Anyway let us consult a dear friend of mine for what LAB color space really mean.

According to our friend wikipedia:

A Lab color space is a color-opponent space with dimension L for lightness and a and b for the color-opponent dimensions, based on nonlinearly-compressed CIE XYZ color space coordinates.
The coordinates of the Hunter 1948 L, a, b color space are L, a, and b. However, Lab is now more often used as an informal abbreviation for the CIE 1976 (L*, a*, b*) color space (also called CIELAB, whose coordinates are actually L*, a*, and b*). Strongly influenced by the Munsell color system, the intention of both “Lab” color spaces is to create a space which can be computed via simple formulas from the XYZ space, but is more perceptually uniform than XYZ.

Now…enough of the books… lets get it on the practical side.
Let us begin the process by opening this photo that I have on Photoshop. I use Photoshop CS4 just in case you were wondering if we don’t have the same exact interface.

This image is shot with these settings: 200mm f/5.6 ISO 400.

After Opening the image, click on Images that should be found on the upper left menu of your window. Then hover to Mode, then finally click on “Lab color” which is found just below the CMYK color.
(See image below, click to view larger size)

After you switch your color mode to Lab Color, the next step would be to bring up the Curves Adjustment.
(See image below)

Then you should be able to see something like this:

This is the part where the adjustment begins. By default, “Lightness” is selected. The adjustment will mostly take part on “a” and “b”. Let us start with “a”. Click the dropdown button and switch to “a”. After “a” has been selected, make the line as shown in the image below. Now don’t freak out just yet because your image is not looking good. You need to tap on the “b” side to get the balance and the right contrast that your image requires.
(See images below, click to view larger size)

After playing with the adjustments, here is my image result: (See images below, click to view larger size)

Now you may be wondering if there’s a difference with the original image, here is a side-by-side view of the before and after the Lab Adjustment.
(See images below, click to view larger size)

Just remember that every technique on Photoshop is not always applicable to all your images. You just have to train your eyes to see what needs to be done. This Lab Color enhancement technique is usually applicable to images taken that has low contrast, under saturated or just simply you don’t like the way the colors are in the picture.