Photoshop Color-Grading Panel
Review by Gilmar Smith
Before it was launched to the public, I recently had the chance to try out Infinite Color created by Pratik Naik and Conny Wallstrom. As an extension for Photoshop, the Infinite Color panel helps creatives color-grade their images more effectively.
What is color grading? It consists of stylizing an image by adding colors to the highlights, midtones, and shadows. The Infinite Color panel randomizes different color-grading effects with just one click, which means that each time you click on the Create button on the panel, you’ll get a different look. The results are so good that it’s kind of addictive: You’ll find yourself clicking on that button as if you were playing a slot machine in Vegas. The best thing of all is that it uses a series of adjustment layers so it’s completely nondestructive. It’s also customizable: In the panel, you can turn on/off which adjustment layers are included when you click Create (Curves, Color Balance, Selective Color, Gradient Map, Color Lookup), and once the adjustment layers are applied, you can individually shuffle any of these adjustment layers by clicking its Shuffle icon.
You can build up as many randomized styles as you want by simply changing the name of the layer group in the Layers panel, and then getting back to that addictive Create button to continue clicking away. One of my favorite features of this panel is that if you don’t like the effect you get and want to get back to the previous one, just press Command-Z (PC: Ctrl-Z), and it’ll take you back to the previous look, instead of just undoing the last applied adjustment layer in the group.
Harmonize is a feature that creates a color palette based on the tone information of your image, and it’s also customizable. With a couple of clicks you can fine-tune the color palette created by the panel, giving you a lot of room to play.
Photographers at any level can use Infinite Color: You don’t need lots of Photoshop knowledge to create beautiful images. It’s a great timesaver, ridiculously easy and fun to use, and the results are amazing! ■