Levels adjustment layer in a 16 bits/channel image

Since adobe removed the way i had been adding adjustment layers to 16 bits/channel images from pse 10, i had to try and find another easy way.
Here's the gist of it (if anyone's interested):
1. Open a camera raw image, in the camera raw dialog set the Bit Depth to 16 bits/channel and press open.
2. Duplicate the layer by selecting the move tool, hold down the Alt (option) key and move the image up just a bit (this duplicates the layer)
Select>All, use the align vertical centers and align horizontal centers in the tool options bar. Select>Deselect. (this aligns the layer)
3. Add a layer mask to the layer (the layer mask button on the bottom of the layers panel)
4. Make sure the layer mask is active by clicking on it. (this won't work if the layer mask is not active)
5. Choose the Smart Brush Tool, Nature and click on Cloud Contrast (levels adjustment layer added)
6. It's very important that you switch to another tool before doing anything else or elements is prone to crash.
7. Now hit Ctrl (cmd) +i to invert the layer mask (double click on the adjustment layer to open the adjustments panel)
8. Reset the Levels adjustment layer by clicking on the Reset to adjustment defaults button on the bottom of the adjustments panel.
Now your ready to adjust the levels on your image.
(i the screenshot i actually duplicated the background layer twice and renamed the Cloud Contrast 1 to Levels 1)
You can use this same method to get other kinds of adjustment layers, just try some of the different options in the smart brush menu.

Thanks for the tip R_Kelly. I still think it’s easier to use the sliders in camera raw e.g. exposure, fill light recovery etc.
However a levels adjustment could be useful for a badly exposed image where you want to drag in the extreme white and black points of the histogram.
I wonder how many other Elements hidden secrets are available!

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Selections & Levels Adjustment Layer Not Working Properly

Hello,
I'm experiencing something that I've never encountered before. I’ve used the selection function and levels adjustment layer hundreds of times and I’ve never ever seen this...
When I make a selection (in this case the signatures on the attached image) and then darken that selection using a levels adjustment layer, some of the surrounding information is changing/darkening as well. This should not be happening.
What's the fix?
Best,
Michelle

The solution I already gave you is valid, and works to modify your existing method, depending on your Quick Mask setting. Rather than reject it out of hand, I suggest you use it.
The problem is that I've performed this procedure hundreds of times before, using the very same steps below, and this particular oddity has never happened, until now.
If you have selected different Eyedropper settings (Range for example), or the image has even slightly different tonal or colour characteristics to normal, your method will not always work. Your method is too crude. In particular the need to alter the selection using the Marquee selection tool, suggests that some knowledge is required.
There are better methods that will produce perfect masks - using Calculations, channel operations, or even the new Refine Edge command. You probably don't even need selections at all to do this, because Curves and Advanced Blending Options could be used instead.

Levels adjustment layer.

hello.
ive been doing this simple tutorial for a image im working on.
its creating a starry sky but when i get the desired effect in adjustment layers in wont save my effect.
blank canvas--fill with black
filter--noise 100% with monochromatic ticked.
filter gaussian blur 0.3
levels adjustment layer top black slider 190. white top slider 218. to create the stars.
flatten image.
for some reason my settings in the adjustment layer is not saved.
thanks
phil.

thanks mylenium.
thats what ive been looking for.
thank you.

Inverting a levels adjustment layer

Hi
I have a levels adjustment layer and I want the opposite of this, so I want to invert it. Does anybody know how to do this?
222design

I suspect I am not the only person wondering what on earth you mean with the above post. If you want the 'opposite' of the areas affected by the levels layer, invert the mask. If you want the opposite of the improved contrast we tend to associate with levels, then still use levels, but adjust the output sliders. Otherwise, can you explain a little better what you are trying to do? A picture would help.

Levels adjustment layer to only layer beneath it?

How do you apply a levels adjustment layer only to the layer beneath it?
Thanks in advance.

Layer > Create Clipping Mask or alt-click on the separator line between the two Layers in the Layers Panel.

PSE8 - Bulk apply level adjustment layer.

I have a large number of slides from the 80's that are severly yellowed/faded. I have created a layer for level adjustment that seems to work well for most of the photos. Is there a way to bulk apply this layer in PSE8?

You need to create a clipping mask. One way, after you make
the levels adjustment layer, is to click on the clip icon on
the bottom of the adjustments panel (highlighted in red below)
more info:
http://help.adobe.com/en_US/photoshop/cs/using/WSfd1234e1c4b69f30ea53e41001031ab64-7853a.h tml

Selecting Color Balance adjustment layer brings up Levels adjustment layer

Ok, so, all of a sudden I cannot get a color balance adjustment layer to come up. Every time I do photoshop creates a levels layer. Selecting levels makes a levels layer. All of the other adjustment layers seem to be working normally. How do I fix this? I have a deadline and no time to be reinstalling photoshop.

Reinstalling the application seldom helps, and re-installing without trashing your preferences is futile as you end up right where you started.
I understand your frustrartion, but please remember that you are not addressing Adobe here in this user to user forum.
http://forums.adobe.com/thread/419981?tstart=0
Excerpt from that link:
• Do not be abusive or aggressive in your tone
An aggressive or abusive sounding post will often evoke an aggressive or abusive and unhelpful reply
Remember, you are requesting help from other users, just like you, who are giving their time free of charge. No one is under any obligation to answer your question.
Thanks!

Making a Levels Adjustment Layer

I want to create a Levels Adjustments Layer in CS5. I select the layer of the image I want to adjust, create a new layer above it, and want to choose image > Adjustment > Levels, though it is greyed out?
How do you do this?

Or click the appropriate icon in the Layers Panel:
Edit: If you want to apply the Adjustment to just the underlying layer make a Clipping Mask (command-alt-G or alt-click the line between the layers’ icons in the Layers Panel).

Histograms disappear in levels adjustment layer

I made a couple of levels adjustment layers with masks in CS4. Now I want to tweak the adjustment and the histograms are gone. The numbers in the boxes are there and the sliders are there but I can't see the histograms. This has just happened on one file so far but it is aggravating.
Anyone seen this or know how to fix it? I'm on a MacPro with 9GB RAM and 30" Apple monitor.
Thx.

Thanks for the tip R_Kelly. I still think it’s easier to use the sliders in camera raw e.g. exposure, fill light recovery etc.
However a levels adjustment could be useful for a badly exposed image where you want to drag in the extreme white and black points of the histogram.
I wonder how many other Elements hidden secrets are available!

Using hue/saturation adjustment layer to match color from another image?

How can I use a hue/saturation adjustment layer on image 'A' so that it matches the color of image 'B' please?

Depends, John.
If you're able to create a reasonable selection via Color Range, feathered masking, etc, then by matching one specific color, you'll also be correcting for that entire range of hue. It might have been needed anyway...or you use a color filter to correct the whole image, if it's needed.
As we all know, each image presents its own specific challenges and solutions.

Display 16 bit channel images using AGAL3

I am trying to display dicom images (medical images) which usually have 16 bit R, 16 bit G and 16 B image channel (for gray scale R=G=B)
I have read that Context3DTextureFormat.RGBA_HALF_FLOAT can be used to represent the 16 bits per channel but I have not come across any examples or tutorials.
I am new to agal any pointers will be helpful. Thanks in advance.

I've had this problem with images saved as 8-bit scans.
Are you using any compression in the TIFs? I scanned using Nikon Scan 4, cleaned up a bit in Photoshop 7, reduced the bit depth to 8-bit, and saved at TIFs with embedded colour profile using ZIP compression, Macintosh byte order.
This used to work with Aperture 1.5.6, but with Aperture 2.0 I see a kind of offset pattern, so a vertical line looks like this:
If export the master TIF, open it in Photoshop (where it looks normal) and save it with no compression Aperture displays it properly.
(I'm still using Tiger, so I don't think this is an OS issue.)

Color balance adjustment layer opening as levels

When I try creating a color balance adjustment layer is it opening a levels adjustment layer. I'm using the New Adjustment Layer button at the bottom of the Layers panel. Is this a bug with CS6? How can I fix the problem?

This is the process that I go through:
Selecting the adjustment icon at the bottom of the Layers Panel, as shown below.
I select color balance, as shown below.
The properties panel is brought up, and shows the color balance adjustment controls.
In your properties panel, are your saying when you follow the above, that level adjustments come up?
Janelle

Grouping Adjustment layer with Gradient Fill layer

Page 151 of "The Missing Manual" suggests that one should be able to group a Levels Adjustment layer with a Gradient Fill layer so that the levels adjustment fades out to one side.
If I understand this correctly, the setup would be:
Levels Adjustment Layer (grouped with layer below)
Gradient Fill layer (with a gradient from Opaque to Transparent)
Photo in Background layer
but I cannot get the desired effect of original picture on one side blending through to adjusted levels on the other.
I can get the desired effect if I dispense with the Gradient Fill layer and simply manually create the gradient on the mask of the Levels Adjustment layer but this loses the advantage of easy adjustment of the gradient.
[Thanks to those who answered my question about linking a mask to a layer. As this is a separate query, I thought it best to start a new topic]

Sanders1,
I thought I'd try it, myself, and got results that I did not expect...
http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1OVdT0C7oX46DsPm6TrfT5xxrm3h
1 - The background image.
2 - I created a Gradient Fill layer using color (red) to transparent.
3 - I created a Levels Adjustment layer, set to reduce red and green,
leaving a blue image.
4 - I grouped the Levels Adjustment layer with the Gradient Fill layer.
Is this the type of result you are seeing? I wonder what is the logic.
Byron

CS4 change adjustment layer

In CS3 it was possible to change an adjustment layer after it was created, i.e. duplicate a curves adjustment layer and then go Layer>Change to make that layer a levels adjustment layer (or some other type of adjustment layer). Is it possible to do this in CS4 and if so how?

In answer to your question about why I would want to do this, the curves to level was just an example. But in the past, with CS4, if I had an adjustment layer with a mask, that was for example, an exposure layer, and then I wanted to reduce the saturation of that same masked area, I would just duplicate the layer and change the layer content to hue/sat. Of course, there are lots of other ways to do this, copy the mask or selection and then make a new layer with a newly created mask, but those other ways all seem to be more cumbersome. I thought it was a nice feature in CS3 but apparently it does not exist in CS4 — asked the question thinking it might be some key stroke and not documented since I could find no reference to in in the documentation for CS4.

Photoshop CC2014.2, Mac OS X: Bug with eyedropper and adjustment layer?

Hi,
I am constantly running into a weird behavior that I have a hard time not to classify as a bug.
Can someone please verify this and instruct me where to place a proper bug report?
How to repeat:
- Create a new document (RGB, white background)
- Use the brush and paint a desaturated colored area
- add a levels adjustment layer to make it lighter or add contrast
- go back to the paint layer
- set the eyedropper to only sample the active layer
- Use the eyedropper to sample the color
- Paint a new area
= The sampled color gets modified by the adjustment layer
- Turn off the adjustment layer
- redo sample and paint
= The adjustment layer will still affect the eyedropper tool
- Delete the adjustment layer
- redo sample and paint
= The adjustment layer will still affect the eyedropper tool even if it's removed!
- Restart photoshop and load the document
- redo sample and paint
= Now it works normally again.
There is one other way to get it back to normal and that is to reset the adjustment layer before deleting or turning it off.
Mac OS X Mavericks
Photoshop CC 2014.2

Bump. Am I really the only one that encounter this issue? Feeling lonely...

Levels adjustment layer in a 16 bits/channel image

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