Functionality of Invert in Photoshop

Invert is a command that is not very commonly used in Photoshop. In order to understand the functionality of Invert in Photoshop it is necessary to understand the three different sectors in which any image is considered to be divided.  These sectors are referred as Shadows, Highlights and Midtones. Whenever we cast a glance over a picture we notice some parts of it noticeably darker than the rest. All such part  are fell into the category of Shadows. Some parts of the same image shows very light shades of different colors which seems almost equivalent to white, all such parts are referred as Highlights. While all the parts of the image containing different shades between the lightest and the darkest shades are referred as Midtones. For instance in the image given below you can see my favorite actress Resham in her fancy white outfit.

Clear representation of Highlights, Shadows and Midtones 

 In this image Shadows , Highlights and Midtones  all are quite obvious and easily noticeable. You can consider her hair as Shadows, her dress as Highlights and her skin and background as Midtones in the image.

Invert is used only when you want to convert the darkest parts of the image into the brightest parts (transform Shadows into Highlights) or if you want to convert the brightest parts of image into the darkest parts (transform Highlights into the Shadows) and at the same time reset the Midtones accordingly. Further, while working with RGB color mode, you notice that the Invert command transform different shades of green into different shades of magenta, different shades of red into different shades of cyan and different shades of blue into different shades of yellow, and so it does with the other color modes.

How to apply Invert command?

In order to understand how this command works follow the steps given below:
First of all  open a picture in Photoshop preferably with the extension  JPEG,  either by getting  inside the File Menu and selecting  the option named Open or by hitting CTRL + O on the keyboard.

Image before being inverted

Having opened the image  in Photoshop, select the image tab in the menu bar by clicking on it. As soon as you will click the tab named Image, there will be appeared a menu containing various options. Out of those options select none other than Adjustment. As soon as you will select the option named Adjustment , there will be appeared it’s side menu containing different sub-option. Out of those sub options, select Invert either by clicking on it in the menu or by hitting CTRL + I on the keyboard.

Command referred as Invert given inside the sub menu of Adjustment

As soon as you will select the option named Invert, the Shadows (darkest parts in the image) will be transformed into Highlights (brightest parts) and the Highlights will be transformed into Shadows. Further, Midtones too, will changed themselves accordingly, meaning darker parts of the image will turn less darker while the brighter parts of the image will turn less brighter and the image will assume the aspect of a photographic negative according to the picture below.

Under the impacts of  Invert image assumes the features of  photographic negatives

As I have explained earlier that the Invert command transforms the different shades of red into different shades of cyan, you can observe the transformation of the red component which was obvious in the skin of the actress, into cyan in the image given above.

In order to observe the impacts of Invert on different colors you can apply that command on any image containing a number of colors for instance the image given below.

Image containing Red, Green, Blue and Cyan, Magenta, Yellow

As soon as you will apply  the command named Invert on the image given above, the same image will be transformed into the image given below.

Impacts of the command named Invert on the different colors

 As in this image there were no noticeable highlights and shadows before inversion and all the color shades had the same intensity so there is nothing look like a photographic negative in this image after inversion.

As you can transform a colorful image into something look like a photographic negative by applying Invert command on it, you can convert a photographic negative into a colorful image by inverting its features too. For instance the following image can be transformed into a perfect colorful photograph if you apply Invert command on it.

Image ready to be transformed into a perfect colorful photograph

After applying Invert command

I am certain, this tutorial will be proved helpful to all my readers. In order to put forward any question, complain or suggestion for further improvement, kindly don't forget to subscribe your comments.