The brand new Adjustment Brush is nested under the Brush tool.
It's available in the latest Photoshop beta.
If you don't see it, go into the Toolbar menu and reset the Toolbar to default.
Once you enable the Adjustment Brush tool, go into the Options bar and choose the
type of adjustment to apply from the drop-down.
I'll choose Brightness and Contrast.
Now, you can paint over your image to make it brighter.
If need be, click on the minus icon and paint to subtract the effect.
Notice that in the Layers panel, Photoshop created a brightness and contrast
adjustment layer with a mask revealing the effects in the areas you painted over.
And from the Properties panel, you can use
the sliders to adjust the brightness and contrast.
If you're more advanced, you're probably
thinking, does the Adjustment Brush tool simply create an adjustment layer and
applies a layer mask to the areas that you painted over?
The answer is yes.
The adjustment brush tool is just another route to the the same destination.
The drop-down in the Options Bar
corresponds to the new adjustment layer icon with a few missing adjustments.
The add and subtract checkboxes are the
same as painting with white or black on the layer mask.
Painting with White, adds the effect, and painting with Black subtracts it.
While the adjustment brush tool was
probably developed as training wheels to help adjustments and mask more accessible
to beginners, I don't think it will make workflows
faster or more efficient for experienced users.
Let me show you why.
First, the Adjustment Brush tool does not include all adjustments or fill layers,
so you will have to go into the new adjustment layer icon if you need to
create a Curves adjustment layer or any of the other missing adjustments.
For me, if I still have to go into the new adjustment layer icon half the time, I'm
probably going to end up going there every time.
One advantage of the Adjustment Brush tool
is that you can start with a black mask and target specific areas to adjust.
Unfortunately, you don't have access to
the properties of those adjustments until you start painting on the layer.
For example, if you wanted to turn this
flower blue using the adjustment brush tool, you would need to choose Hue and
Saturation from the drop-down and paint over the flower.
Then you would need to go into the properties panel, click Colorize, then
drag the Hue slide over the blue, increase Saturation, and continue painting.
To me, this is a lot less efficient.
I prefer to create a hue and saturation adjustment.
Press Control+I to invert the mask to make it black.
Then click Colorize, drag the Hue slide
over blue, increase saturation, and paint over the flower.
Doing this gives you the same result, and
in my opinion, it's faster and more efficient.
Another issue for me is how the tool works with selections.
If you make a selection, like a select subject selection, and want
to desaturate the main subject, you could choose black and white from the drop-down.
Then you have to click once to create the Adjustment Layer over her body.
But you could do all this with one less step, simply using adjustment layers.
With the same selection active, all you
need to do is create a black and white adjustment layer.
No need to click anywhere else to apply the adjustment.
Now, to be fair, I do see some value in
specific use cases where painting many soft adjustments could save some time.
But in my workflow, those are few and far between.
Also, I've seen some people comparing this
tool with the adjustment brush in Lightroom and in camera.
And to me, this tool is not similar.
Lightroom allows you to paint over an area
and then apply numerous adjustments such as brightness adjustments, color changes,
and even sharpening effects, all in the same adjustment.
But you can only apply one with the adjustment brush tool in Photoshop.
And of course, the adjustment is the one that you choose from the drop-down menu.
When I first heard the name Adjustment Brush tool, I was expecting something
similar to this, maybe even camera raw on an adjustment layer, something where you
can apply multiple different effects with a single brush stroke.
But instead, we got another way of doing
the same thing, and it doesn't offer any new functionality.
And to me, that makes this tool a miss.
In my opinion, the Adjustment Brush tool
could be a great introduction to adjustments it masks,
but ultimately, I think it's trying to solve a problem that wasn't really there.
I would have used those resources in that
time to develop newer tools or update some of the older tools.
Let me know what you think.
Is this tool a hit or miss?
Leave your thoughts below.
My name is Jesús Ramirez. Thanks for watching.