Photoshop CC: The Missing Manual, 2nd Edition

Changing Color

Photoshop is the ultimate recolorizing tool because it gives you the power to put a fresh coat of paint on anything. You can repaint clothing, vehicles, flowers…heck, you can even recolor hair. You can also use Photoshop to convert a photo into cartoonish pop art or reverse the color in an image, which is a handy for images that you use as textures. The next few pages describe how to perform all these stunts and more!

Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layers

If you’re experimenting with a color change, start by creating a hue/saturation adjustment layer, which offers a friendly set of sliders that let you change the overall color of an image or a specific range of colors (see Targeting a Specific Range of Colors). Because you’re working with an adjustment layer, color changes take place on a separate layer, leaving the original image unharmed. And since a layer mask automatically tags along with the adjustment layer, you can use it to hide the color change from certain parts of the image.

If you take the time to select an object or specific area of the image before adding a hue/saturation adjustment layer, you can change the color in just that one spot. Here’s how:

1. Open an image and create a selection using one of the techniques from Chapter 4.

   For example, to change the color of a car, you could use the Quick Selection tool to select it.

   Note

   To practice the following technique, download the file Corvette.jpg from this book’s Missing CD page at www.missingmanuals.com/cds.

2. Add a ...