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Home » Photoshop Tutorials » Lightroom Tutorials » How To Change The Color of ANYTHING in Lightroom

How To Change The Color of ANYTHING in Lightroom – COOL Adjustment Brush Trick!

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Posted In: Lightroom Tutorials | Watch on YouTube

In this tutorial, you will learn how to change colors in Lightroom.

You might remember a recent tutorial where I showed you how to change the color of anything in Photoshop, this is going to be a similar tutorial, but we’re going to do it all in Lightroom and not Photoshop.

Photoshop has great masking options and a ton of tools to change the color of an object. But if you have an object that is easy to select you may want to stay in Lightroom and do all your work there.

Keep in mind that there are two versions of Lightroom. Lightroom Classic CC and Lightroom CC.

Lightroom Classic CC & Lightroom CC

In this tutorial, we’re going to work with Lightroom Classic CC. This is the version of Lightroom that has been around for a decade and the preferred version of professional Photographers.

Lightroom CC is the new cloud-based editor which does not have the cataloging and organizational features that Lightroom Classic does. But the editing features between the two apps are virtually the same.

If you want to learn more about the new Lightroom CC, then check out my free video course for beginners.

If you would like to download the photo used in this tutorial, you can download a free watermarked preview from Adobe Stock.

Table of contents

  • Change Colors in Lightroom With The HSL Panel
  • Change Colors in Lightroom With The Adjustment Brush
    • Changing The Color of The Jacket
    • Lightroom Presets
  • Links Mentioned In The Video Tutorial

Change Colors in Lightroom With The HSL Panel

Before we go into the Adjustment Brush technique featured in this tutorial, it is important to be familiar with and understand the method that most people use to change colors in Lightroom and why it doesn’t always work.

Make sure that you are in Lightroom Classic CC, and go into the Edit Module.

From the Edit Module, you can click on the HSL/Color panel. Then you can select the Hue tab, where you will see a list of colors that you can adjust with the corresponding sliders.

HSL Panel

In this example, the model is wearing a red jacket. If you wanted to change the jacket to another color, you could click-and-drag the Red slider to the left or to the right to shift the hue.

But notice that you can only shift the hue just a bit. You can make the jacket orange, or you can make it magenta, but you cannot change it to a specific color.

HSL Changes

If you want to make the jacket blue, then you will need to use a different technique.

A better way of changing the color of an object in Lightroom to a specific color is to use the Adjustment Brush.

Change Colors in Lightroom With The Adjustment Brush

The best way to change colors in Lightroom to any color that you like is to use the Adjustment Brush along the Color option.

To do so, start by selecting the Adjustment Brush by pressing K on the keyboard or clicking on it from the tools bar.

Adjustment Brush

Then make sure that no adjustments have been made to any of the sliders in the adjustment panel. You can hold Alt (Mac: Option) to change the “Effect” label to a “Reset” button. Once you click on the Reset button, all the sliders and settings will return to default.

Reset HSL Sliders

To make things easier to select, make sure that you also check the Auto Mask checkbox, which will confine brush strokes to areas of similar color.

Auto Mask

Notice that when you start painting over the image, you will see a red overlay. This overlay represents the areas that you have painted on and the areas that will be adjusted by the Adjustment Brush’s settings.

If your photo contains red areas, such as the red jacket in the photo in this example, you will not be able to see the overlay. But you can press Shift O on the keyboard to toggle between the different colors available for the overlay. Red, green, white, and black.

If you don’t see the overlay, you can press O on the keyboard to enable it (or disable it).

When painting over the object, remember that the bracket keys on the keyboard ( [ or ] ) allow you to change the brush size quickly. Adding the Shift key will let you adjust the feather, which is the sharpness of the edge of the brush.

Paint over the object whose color you would like to change. You don’t have to be very precise; you can always come back and fine-tune your selection later on.

Changing The Color of The Jacket

Once you have painted over the jacket, disable the overlay by pressing O on the keyboard, and reduce the Saturation to negative 100.

Desaturate Object

Without any saturation, you may notice that some areas still contain the original color. If you do, then simply continue painting over your object until it is completely gray.

Remember that if you make a mistake, you can always hold Alt (Mac: Option) to subtract from the mask.

The next step is to add the color.

Go to the section here that reads Color, click on the swatch, and select any color that you like.

Select Color

You can then use the luminosity sliders (Exposure, Contrast, Highlights, Shadows, Whites, and Blacks) to control how the color looks.

Adjust Color Change In Lightroom

Keep in mind that sliders that control colors, such as Temperature and Tint, will not change the color of the adjustment. The Adjustment Brush desaturated the image, so these sliders will not affect color.

Lightroom Presets

One of the advantages of this coloring method is that it remains even when you apply a Lightroom Preset.

Apply Preset

So, after replacing the color of an object, you can then apply your favorite preset!

Your Turn

And there you have it! That’s how to change the color of an object in Lightroom CC Classic!

Links Mentioned In The Video Tutorial

  • Lightroom CC FREE Course:
  • How To Change The Color of Anything in Photoshop

Final Image

Drag The Slider To See Before & After

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Other Photoshop Tutorials You Might Like:

  • Lightroom CC for BeginnersLightroom CC For Beginners – FREE Course – Lightroom CC Tutorials
  • How To EASILY Change The Color of ANYTHING in Lightroom Mobile! 📱

About Jesus Ramirez

Jesús Ramirez is a digital graphics expert, speaker, and educator specializing in Adobe Photoshop. Jesús is best known as the founder of the Photoshop Training Channel, one of the most popular Photoshop YouTube channels in the world. More.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Susan Leonard says

    June 15, 2018 at 12:43 am

    First time I’ve seen this. Very clear tutorial. I have LR and PS via the cloud so it’s great to see tutorials for both. Thank you for making very clear tutorials.

    Reply
    • Photoshop Training Channel says

      June 15, 2018 at 12:48 am

      You’re welcome, Susan!

      Reply
  2. Deborah D says

    October 18, 2018 at 6:14 pm

    You are quite good, with clear and simple instructions for photoshop novices. Thank you.

    Reply
    • Photoshop Training Channel says

      December 17, 2018 at 12:48 am

      You’re welcome!

      Reply
  3. Errol de Jesus says

    January 6, 2020 at 7:45 am

    This tutorial was so helpful! I didn’t know you could play around in lightroom like this. Definitely bookmarking this for reference. Thanks for the easy tutorial!!

    Reply

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To activate multiple layers using your keyboard, press Shift Alt [ (Mac: Shift Option [) to activate the layer below the currently selected layer (or the ] key to activate the layer above).

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