The best way to learn these tools is to use them
The next group of adjustment layers is about controlling Color Values.
The first two Adjustment Layers in this group — Vibrance and Hue/Saturation — use sliders to vary color depth and fine-tune color variations. The best way to learn these tools is to use them. Open an image and just make changes while you watch what happens to the image.
The Color Balance Adjustment Layer allows us to isolate and control colors as they occur in Highlights, Shadows, and Midtones. This degree of control can be very useful in Landscape photography where you might want to treat the clouds (highlights) differently than the ground (midtones or shadows).
The Black & White Adjustment Layer converts your image to Black & White. That is easy to understand. What can be confusing are the sliders that you use to make adjustments. They are all labeled with the names of colors. There really is a logical explanation for this.
When you convert a color image to black and white, you generally want the most contrast that you can achieve. This is what makes Black & White images pop.
The amount of contrast will be greatly affected by the colors in the original image. By adjusting these colors while looking at the B&W image, you will save yourself a great deal of guess work. You will be surprised by how much the yellow slider can affect a B&W image for example. It is particularly effective with skin tones.
