How To Use Libraries To Speed Up The Color Toning Process

I don’t know why it took me so long to realize this, because I’ve immediately put this to use!

If you ever work on a series of images in Photoshop and want to copy your layers from one image to a set of them with ease, this feels like the easiest way to do it. 


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Steven Spaulding explains in a concise fashion, the way he uses the Libraries window in Creative Cloud to save a set of layers so that they can be easily applied to another image.The way that I used to do it was open all the images, then go to Window>Arrange>Tile and then drag and drop the folders. It was fast, but the problem is that if I had too many open, I couldn’t keep things in perspective.

You could also make it an action, but an issue is that you’d have to record an action while you’re playing around with your layers. Or, you can do it how Steven used to do it in the video as well. 

There are other methods of doing this process, and perhaps you have one you like even better that you’d like to contribute in the comments.

However, this is another workflow method that I hope will come in handy the next time you’re finalizing a set of images!

Thank you to Steven for sharing his discovery. If you’d like to follow more of his work, be sure and check him out on his WebsiteInstagram, and Facebook.
Also, special thanks to model Leigha for being kind enough to be the wonderful subject for the video! You can also follow her on Facebook and Instagram.

This is one of those reasons I will never feel like I know everything about a particular topic because there’s always more to learn. Thanks, Steven! 


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This blog was originally featured on the Retouchist

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Pratik Naik is a high end retoucher specializing in commercial and editorial work, represented by One Mega Management. His proficiency with retouching and Photoshop stems from 10 years of experience in the field. His work can be seen in magazines all over the world, ranging from Marie Claire, Elle, Zink and many more. Pratik is also a retouching mentor and instructor, teaching photographers and other retouchers across the world on a regular basis.