Lightroom HSL via the Color Panel

In last week's Adobe Lightroom 3 post we reviewed how to use the Hue, Saturation and Luminance (HSL) Panel.  On Thursday, I provided a "bonus" post that illustrated a possible artistic use of the HSL tool to completely desaturate one specific color in an image.  Today, we'll review the Color Panel as an alternative to the HSL sliders.

The function of the Color Panel is the same as that of the HSL Panel, but in a simplified interface.  In the Color Panel, you first select a color space you're planning to effect by clicking on one of the colored rectangles at the top of the panel.  In doing so, you'll notice that the color label just above the sliders changes as do the background colors of the sliders themselves.  In the screen shot above, "Yellow" is selected.

As with all sliders in Lightroom, the background of the slider provides clues as to what happens when you drag the control in a particular direction.  For example, dragging the Hue slider to the right would result in the yellows becoming more green.  Drag to the left, and the yellows take on a more orange hue.  As you'll recall from last week, the Saturation control impacts the intensity of a color which, again, is illustrated with the background color of the slider.  Drag to the right and the yellows become more intense.  Drag to the left and you begin to desaturate the yellows. Finally, we have the Luminance slider.  Again, it's purpose is the same here as it is in the HSL Panel.  It exists to brighten or darken a particular color space which is easy to remember if you simply reference the background color of the slider.  Slide to the right to brighten, to the left to darken.

That's really all there is to the Color Panel.  It's just a more simplified means of modifying HSL.  You've probably noticed by now that "simplified" means there's no Targeted Adjustment Tool (TAT) in the Color Panel.  I confessed last week that I almost always leverage the TAT when adjusting HSL because it's not always easy to know which colors you're really trying to impact just by moving the sliders around.  That being the case, I have found little use for the Color Panel. 

Maybe there's a secret ability here that I'm missing?  If you have a special use for the Color Panel that you'd like to share, please do so by commenting on this post.

That's all for now.  Next week we'll explore the B&W Panel together so come prepared :).

Until next time, keep clickn'.
-Ken