The Photoshop Color
Philosophy
Adobe has created Photoshop with the basic idea that choice and variation in software design is a good thing. They don't give just one way to correct color; they deliver ten different correction options. Why have ten options when you only need one? The idea is twofold. First of all, there are many different kinds of Photoshop users. Some are very technical, with a complex understanding of color theory, while others are casual users who only own Photoshop because it was bundled with their $200 scanner. The strength and effectiveness of any program is in the way that it caters to the full spectrum of users, from remedial to expert. Photoshop shines in this regard, delivering as much or as little control as necessary to meet the needs of the user.
The second reason for so many controls is that the science of color involves a number of variables, which can be manipulated globally or within smaller subsets. Sometimes you just want to change one of these components with a more specialized tool rather than using a general-purpose tool for global corrections. For example, changing a slight color cast involves a different approach than tweaking the hue or saturation. In addition, making a global change in overall contrast would be very difficult if you had to change hue, saturation, or brightness independently. In short, each tool has its place, depending on the task at hand.
Most of the color controls in Photoshop are located in the Image menu, under the adjust submenu. I'll briefly describe them in the pages that follow.
