"Color Swapping" tool in "Photoshop"

The brilliant developers of the pearl Adobe probably did not even suspect that the "Color Swapping" tool in "Photoshop" will become among the other functions one of the leaders in terms of frequency of use.

Recolor Brush

A brush called "Color Replacement" can be found in the "Brush" group of tools (in Photoshop CS3 version and younger). This tool is good for its simplicity (for repainting objects you can do without laborious allocation), but at the same time is not entirely predictable.

In fact, this color substitute with a cursor in the form of a circle with a cross works like an ordinary brush, painting the area with the first (basic) color while preserving the texture and structural features of the image, but with some reservations.

First, unlike the normal brush, in its settings, in addition to the size and stiffness, you can set the intervals (when moving), the angle of incidence and the shape of the print, and adjust the pressure of the pen (using graphic tablets).

During the painting process, the program continuously analyzes the paint within the print of the brush, replacing it with the color indicated in the main color according to the selected mode.

The default mode is "Color", which changes the color and saturation, and the brightness remains the same, and the new shade, of course, will not exactly match the selected color.

In the "Brightness" mode, the original tone is saved, but the brightness changes.

In the "Color tone" mode, the color will change to the declared color, and the original brightness and saturation will be preserved.

Choosing the option "Color", we change the saturation, keeping the brightness of the original paint.

In the "Saturation" mode, the brightness remains, but the tone of the original color and its saturation change.

To the right of the mode window in the settings panel, there are three options for sampling at the top.

Selecting the first ("Continuously"), we instruct the program to continuously scan the color in the brushprint area while we hold the button, painting the object.

If we specify "Once", the color sample selected at the first click will be used as the sample. This option is suitable for uniformly colored areas.

In the third variant ("Background pattern"), only the areas related to the background color are recolored.

The "Restrictions" parameter defines the extension of the replaced color, as the hint on hovering the mouse says.

The "All pixels" option replaces all pixels in the "cursor-sight" area of the brush. Selecting "Adjacent pixels" (set by default), we paint over the printout of the brush only those that are adjacent to the pixels of the color directly under the cross. In the "Edge Selection" mode, all sample pixels will be repainted, but with an emphasis on the edges.

In principle, by selecting the appropriate brush size, you can confidently repaint and in the boundary zones of the object, even climbing inadvertently into another color, if only the "Tolerance" parameter that determines the error in choosing relative colors is correctly chosen, as the hint says. With increasing tolerance, the spectrum of substitutable tones expands, and vice versa.

Thus, we can conclude that the brush "Color Replacement" in "Photoshop" - the tool is flexible enough, and, despite its "straightforwardness", in able hands can do a lot "to mess things up."

All commands that can dramatically change the color without destructive consequences for the image are in the "Correction" list in the "Image" menu. These are functions such as "Color balance", "Color tone / Saturation", "Selective color correction" and "Replace color".

In the mode "Color tone" - object "chameleon"

Another undeservedly rarely mentioned and infrequently used method of color transformation lies in the modest mode of imposing "Color tone". After selecting the "Color" adjustment layer and specifying the desired paint, the blending mode on this layer is then changed to "Color tone". The object, of course, will not be repainted exactly in the specified color, but the shade will change. If you double-click on the fill fill of the adjustment layer, the color palette opens, and you can sort through the options, watching the chameleon effect on the canvas.

Superfluous is erased by a soft black brush on the mask of the corrective layer, which is good.

With motley-colored objects, there will, of course, be more fuss, so it's better to repaint more or less uniform objects in color in this way.

You can create a new layer instead of a correction one, change the blend mode to "Hue" and, selecting the desired color, paint over the object with the brush, then correct the flaws with the eraser.

A little bit about the color balance

Having chosen "Color balance", we can pre-color the selected object with the help of the color pairs "Blue - Red", "Purple - Green" and "Yellow - Blue". The tonal balance is regulated in shadows, lights and in medium tones.

Color tone and saturation

The tone correction and saturation adjustment functions are often used for tasks such as color replacement in Photoshop.

The color change algorithm in the dialog box, called the "Hue / Saturation" command, is based on the adjustment of the hue, saturation and brightness parameters. Here we can shift the overall color scheme of the picture or the selected fragment (object) and adjust the colors separately in different parts of the color range by selecting the desired tone with the pipette.

In the range list below (below the "Style" item), where "All" is the default, there are six color ranges that can be processed simultaneously, but with separate parameters.

Given the power of the tool in terms of color correction, it is not difficult to repaint the selected object here.

Selective color correction

This function allows you to change colors on the model not HSB (hue, saturation, brightness), but CMYK, controlling the amount of cyan, magenta, yellow and black in the selected color. Selecting the object to be repainted in the image, select the necessary color group in the "Colors" box and adjust its composition with the help of sliders.

Sometimes, instead of the command "Selective Color" (Selective Color) in the "Image"> "Adjustment" menu, it is better to use the same adjustment layer (Layers> New adjustment layer or button in the layers panel at the bottom). In this case, it becomes possible to correct the effect on the mask of the correcting layer, removing all unnecessary black brush.

Replacing white and black

By changing the color with the corrective functions, you might notice that the white color does not lend itself to repainting in this way. Replacing the white color in "Photoshop" is very simple: if this area is pre-selected, and then, removing it, repaint it.

However, this cardinal decision is destructive. It is justified only in the case when the original drawing itself is important, but its color. And if you just need to give the white color a different shade, try to convert the image to CMYK mode and use the "Selective color correction" function, and then return to the RGB color space.

Depending on the uniformity of the color, you can apply any tool from the extensive arsenal of Photoshop tools for selection (Magic Wand, Quick Selection, Background Eraser, Magic Eraser, etc.), but the best option is usually " Color range "in the" Selection "menu. And then, as the new color takes root in place of the removed white, it directly depends on the quality of the selection.

By the way, if you need a black replacement in Photoshop, all the arguments regarding the repainting of white color are also valid for this case.

Replace color

This command from the "Correction" list in the "Image" menu (or the corresponding adjustment layer) is easier to use than "Hue / Saturation", in addition, its results are more predictable.

In the dialog box, type the colors to be changed with the pipettes. The "Color tone", "Saturation" and "Brightness" sliders achieve the desired effect. To control the selection, it is better to select the "Selected area" checkbox (the image will be shown as a mask). The "Spread" slider is used to correct dispersion of the selected area abroad.

This method of replacing color is most effective for contrasting and not very variegated images.

Recoloring in Lab mode

One of the most rapid and relatively simple ways to repaint objects is to replace the color in Photoshop using the Lab color mode, although it is desirable to have some idea of the Lab color space to use this method effectively.

So, the coordinate L specifies the luminance value, defined in the range from 0 (the darkest) to 100 (the lightest), and the color parameters are given by the coordinates A (the color is in the range from green to red) and B (the color in the range from blue To yellow).

Thus, in Lab, the luminance value is separated from the chromatic color parameters, so that it is possible to act separately on the brightness, contrast and color of the image. It is this circumstance that allows sometimes to speed up the processing of images, for example, in case of the need to replace the color.

However, for repainting colorful motley objects and objects with complex contours (hair, fur), this option is not suitable. Let's say you need to change the color of the car. In Lab, color replacement in Photoshop assumes, first of all, the translation of the image into this mode.

We translate the picture into Lab mode (Image> Mode> Lab), then select the desired color from the libraries by double-clicking on the main color on the toolbar, and remember the values of channels L, A and B.

In the "Eyedropper" tool group, select the "Color standard" and put a mark (checkpoint) in the representative area of the replaced color of the car, thus calling the "Info" panel.

Now add the correction layer "Curves" and for each channel we find the position of the curve in accordance with the fixed values, checking the "Info" palette.

Curves of channels A and B must necessarily intersect the center of the graph, and the curve of the luminance channel L - necessarily preserve the angle of inclination.

Now double-click on the image layer and open the "Layer Style, Blending Options" window. We shift attention to its lower part ("Overlay, if"). Here, by manipulating the sliders for each parameter (L, A and B), we separate the auto from the background or other objects.

Recolour all

Having mastered the above methods of color replacement, you can repaint almost any object. Depending on its complexity, this or that method may be preferable. For example, the replacement of hair color in "Photoshop" is easily accomplished using the corrective functions "Color tone / Saturation" and "Color balance", but here the main task is to qualitatively identify an object with such a complex (as a rule) contour.

Most often for selection use a quick mask (the button with a dotted ringlet at the very bottom of the toolbar). Then make the selection using the special features of the "Specify Edge" command in the "Selection" menu.

The selected area is usually copied to a new layer (Ctrl + J), then apply the above dyeing tools to it.

And simple tasks like changing the eye color in Photoshop, where standard selection tools are used, are generally solved in two counts. The eye can be selected by selecting "Lasso" or "Oval area" (for pupils), then, as in the previous case, replace the color by applying the correction "Hue / Saturation".

The "Color Swapping" brush will also cope well with this task.

With color, everything is still

Most user inquiries related to repainting objects in the "Photoshop" program usually do not specify a specific version of the editor, and if they do, the color replacement in "Photoshop CS6" is much more interesting than others.

Perhaps this is due to a more substantial update of the program in relation to the previous version than it was before. The changes touched on the functions of background saving and auto-saving, selection tools, trimming, Magic Wand and Eyedropper, brush parameters, some filters, fill functions, layer editing, interface color and much more.

There are new possibilities of working with text, editing RAW files in the new version of Camera RAW7, gradient fills, artistic stylization of images, video editing, searching for the desired layer in multi-layer documents, as well as a new Color Lookup color correction, etc.

Nevertheless, the corrective functions in the "Correction" list in the "Image" menu have not undergone any special changes during the program upgrade process, so repainting objects, for example, in CS2, and replacing the color in "Photoshop CS6" practically do not differ in substance. This is a comment for those owners of early versions who believe that new options have more options for replacing colors.