1. Hue/Saturation Tool
To start with, we’re going to show you how to manipulate the Hue/Saturation tool. Let’s jump right in.
First, you need to select the area or object in the photo that you want to change the color of. There are different selection tools in Adobe Photoshop, but usually, the Quick Selection will work like a charm. Once you select the area, go to Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation, or press Ctrl + U on your keyboard. A window will pop up, and there you can play around with the settings. Hue changes the color of the selection, Saturation can make the selection go from black-and-white to saturated, and Lightness can make the selection lighter or darker. When you are happy with your results, click on OK.
2. Replace Color Tool
Now, let’s look at how to use the Replace Color tool. Just follow the below steps.
After opening your desired photo in Photoshop, go to Image > Adjustments > Replace Color. Use the eyedropper tool to select the color you want to change. To add areas, click on the Add to Sample tool or Shift + left-click on the areas. To remove areas, use the Subtract From Sample tool or Alt + left-click on the areas. Change the Hue, Saturation, and Lightness options until you are happy with the results. Make sure to have Localized Color Clusters checked, as that gives you more accurate masks. You should also have the Preview option checked because that will let you see all the changes as you make them. When you are happy with the outcome, click on OK. If you want to delete the color from some areas, you can use the History Brush tool.
3. Color Replacement Tool
Lastly, let’s look at the Color Replacement tool. Note that this is different from Replace Color in the previous section.
After opening your photo in Photoshop, select the Color Replacement Tool. In the bar on top of Photoshop, you will get additional options for this tool as shown in the image below. Mode includes Hue, Saturation, Color, and Luminosity options. Depending on what you choose, you will only alter that aspect of the photo. In this case, you want to choose Color. There are three Eyedropper options. Continuous continuously samples the color as you move the Brush tool (this is the Eyedropper tool we used). Sample Once replaces the color that you first click on only in areas that contain that color. Background Color replaces only the colors that will match whichever color you chose as the background swatch. Limit controls how the brush will behave; there are three options. Contiguous only replaces colors that match the sampled color, are adjacent to it, or are touching it (we used this one). Find Edges focuses on the edge of a photo while replacing the colors that Photoshop perceives are within those edges. Discontinuous replaces the sampled color no matter where it appeared within the cursor area. Tolerance controls how accurately the color needs to match the sampled color to get replaced. We set it to 100%. Once you have selected all your preferred options, simply click and drag over the area where you wish to change the color. You can choose the color by clicking on the front square at the bottom of the toolbar on the left.
And here’s our result:
Easily Change the Color of an Image in Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop has a lot of creative tools that allow you to alter photos however you want. These were the three simplest ways you can change the color of an image. If you want to know more about Photoshop and how to use it, check out our next article.
