Today’s Question: With the new Color and Vibrance adjustment layer in Photoshop, is it safe to say there’s no need to use the Color Balance adjustment layer anymore?
Tim’s Quick Answer: In general, I would say that the Color Balance adjustment layer is a bit outdated, though there are some situations where photographers might find it convenient to use.
More Detail: The Color Balance adjustment layer in Photoshop is relatively straightforward to use, and makes use of the RGB (red, green, blue) color model that many photographers are familiar with since it has been in use for such a long time. However, I consider other adjustment options to be better in most cases.
The Color and Vibrance adjustment layer provides the Temperature and Tint sliders for adjusting overall color balance in an image. While this may seem less flexible because there are only two sliders rather than the three for Color Balance, you can still arrive at the same overall color appearance with either adjustment. Also, I think the Temperature adjustment is more in line with the way photographers tend to think of color, allowing a shift between a cooler (more blue) or warmer (more yellow) color cast.
Furthermore, with the Temperature and Tint sliders now available alongside Vibrance and Saturation sliders, the Color and Vibrance adjustment layer is very convenient for adjusting the overall appearance of colors in a photo.
One of the benefits of Color Balance over Color and Vibrance is that with Color Balance you can independently adjust the Shadows, Midtones, and Highlights in an image. However, if you want to exercise such granular control, I recommend instead working with a Curves adjustment layer, modifying the individual curves for the Red, Green, and Blue channels.
Another option that I often find to be even more convenient than adjustment layers (except when using adjustment layers for targeted adjustments that employ a layer mask) is to use the Camera Raw filter. As long as you won’t be using additional pixel-based layers with an image, you can convert the Background image layer to a Smart Object using the Filter > Convert for Smart Filters command. You can then apply the Camera Raw filter (Filter > Camera Raw Filter) as a Smart Filter, which enables you to double-click on the Smart Filter for Camera Raw on the Layers panel anytime you want to return to the Camera Raw dialog to modify your adjustment settings. This provides direct access to a wide range of adjustments, including the sliders for Temperature, Tint, Vibrance, and Saturation that are also available with the Color and Vibrance adjustment layer.
