How do you adjust color balance using the Color Balance adjustment layer and target midtones, shadows, highlights separately?

• A. Add Color Balance adjustment layer; adjust the same sliders across all tonal ranges
• B. Add Color Balance adjustment layer; switch to Shadows, Midtones, or Highlights and adjust the sliders for color balance; results affect all layers beneath unless clipped
• C. Use Hue/Saturation with a mask
• D. Convert the image to grayscale first

Answer: (B)

Color balance on an adjustment layer lets you shift colors differently in different tonal ranges. To target midtones, shadows, or highlights, open the Color Balance controls and switch to the specific tonal range you want to adjust, then move the color sliders to influence that range. This lets you fine-tune the color balance for dark areas, the midtones, and bright areas separately.

By default, the adjustments affect all layers beneath the adjustment layer. If you want the change to apply to only one layer, you can clip the adjustment layer to that layer, so the color shift stays contained. This exact setup—choosing a tonal range and adjusting its sliders, with the option to clip to limit the effect—is why this approach is the best choice.

Other methods don’t provide that built-in, range-specific control. Using Hue/Saturation with a mask can approximate color shifts but isn’t the same as adjusting color balance per tonal range, and converting to grayscale removes color entirely.