Using multiple adjustment layers on one layer?

[Mistro]

Hi. I have a layer with flowers that are white. I duplicated it and used a hue/saturation adjustment layer to turn the new layer red, nesting that hue adjustment within so it only affects that layer and not the whole document. After doing that, I want to also use a levels adjustment layer to deepen the color a bit but when I nest the levels adjustment within that red flower layer and move the sliders, nothing happens. What am I missing? Can we use more than one adjustment layer within one layer?

In Photoshop I would usually just make a duplicate layer and make adjustments via Layer>(whatever adjustments I want to make) doing multiple edits with various options like curves, levels, color balance etc. and that was it. Is there a way to do changes to a layer without using adjustment layers like we could in Photoshop?

[GarryP]

In your example, the Levels Adjustment is being applied to the Recolour Adjustment which has a mask, and I’m not sure what’s supposed to happen in this case (maybe nothing).

I think you might need to add the Levels Adjustment above the Recolour Adjustment so that the Levels Adjustment is applied to the ‘result’ of applying the Recolour Adjustment to the original image – see attached image where the arrow shows how the adjustments are applied from top to bottom.

[walt.farrell]

Or perhaps the two adjustments need to go above the pixel layer they should affect, and then all 3 layers put into a Group to restrict the adjustments to that pixel layer.

[Mistro]

5 hours ago, GarryP said:

In your example, the Levels Adjustment is being applied to the Recolour Adjustment which has a mask, and I’m not sure what’s supposed to happen in this case (maybe nothing).

I think you might need to add the Levels Adjustment above the Recolour Adjustment so that the Levels Adjustment is applied to the ‘result’ of applying the Recolour Adjustment to the original image – see attached image where the arrow shows how the adjustments are applied from top to bottom.

Yes the levels work when on top but then it affects the whole document. I only want to edit the flowers which have to be on top of the background image.

1 hour ago, walt.farrell said:

Or perhaps the two adjustments need to go above the pixel layer they should affect, and then all 3 layers put into a Group to restrict the adjustments to that pixel layer.

Thank you, this sounds like a plan. I did try making a group but still ended up affecting the whole document. How do you restrict adjustment layers within a group?

[walt.farrell]

Just now, Mistro said:

 

Thank you, this sounds like a plan. I did try making a group but still ended up affecting the whole document. How do you restrict adjustment layers within a group?

With the adjustment layers above a pixel layer, all of them in a Group, the adjustments are automatically restricted to that pixel layer.

If you're not seeing that, please provide a screenshot showing your setup in the Layers panel,

[Mistro]

34 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

With the adjustment layers above a pixel layer, all of them in a Group, the adjustments are automatically restricted to that pixel layer.

If you're not seeing that, please provide a screenshot showing your setup in the Layers panel,

Thank you so much. I started over but this time made sure to add the adjustment layer then immediately make a group with the flowers and the adjustment layer. I then repeated stacking the levels on top of the HSL layer and it did not affect the whole document. I'm all set now.

 

[smadell]

Hello @Mistro. As an alternative, you can place multiple adjustments into a single layer without having to use Groups and so forth. Simply place the adjustments on the Layers stack and then drag them over the thumbnail of the image layer you're trying to adjust. They will be nested into the image layer, and will affect only that layer. They will be applied from bottom to top (just as layers in the Layers panel are), so be careful about the ordering.

In the image (below) the document on top has a photo placed on top of a blue fill layer, with the photo sized so as to leave a blue "frame" around the image. Making the adjustments children of the image layer allows them to affect the photo, but leave the blue fill layer alone.