How To Change Wall Colors In Photoshop! [Pro Technique]
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- 0:00 Intro
- 1:20 Technique 1 - Changing Wall Colors with The Hue and Saturation Adjustment.
- 4:36 Create a Vector Work Path.
- 5:08 Convert the Work Path into a Vector Shape.
- 5:27 HSB Explanation
- 6:22 Subtract Front Shape
- 6:47 Set Blending Mode to Color
- 8:06 Create a Levels Adjustment Layer
- 10:08 Clipping Mask Trick
- 12:50 Subtract From Shape
- 15:05 Apply a Layer Mask to The Vector Shape
- 17:43 Create a Channel-based Mask
Your choices stick across every tutorial on this device.
You can change wall colors in Photoshop with two techniques: a quick Hue/Saturation trick, or a precise method built around a vector shape and a Levels adjustment layer.
In this video, you’ll learn a step-by-step process for changing wall colors in Photoshop, the professional way!
This tutorial was recorded in Photoshop 2020 (version 21.1), and every technique in it still works the same way in the current version of Photoshop.
Key Takeaways
- Quick Selection plus a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer recolors a wall in minutes, but the Lightness slider can flatten shadows if you push it too far.
- A vector shape built with the Pen tool gives cleaner, straighter edges than a selection tool on flat walls.
- Setting a color fill layer’s blend mode to Color applies only hue and saturation, so the wall keeps its original shading and texture.
- Unchecking Blend Clipped Layers as Group in the Layer Style dialog lets a Levels adjustment layer control brightness across every layer below it, confined to the shape above it.
- A Levels adjustment layer gives five separate control points over brightness and contrast, compared to the single Lightness slider in Hue/Saturation.
- A channel-based mask can isolate a fussy detail, like a wall ornament, that a vector path is not worth tracing by hand.
Table of contents
- What You Will Learn
- Requirements
- Keyboard Shortcuts
- Tutorial Assets
- Change Wall Colors in Photoshop with the Hue/Saturation Adjustment
- Fine-Tuning Your Layer Mask
- Change The Color of a Wall with a Vector Shape
- Create a Vector Path
- Convert the Work Path into a Vector Shape
- Combine Vector Shapes
- Set Blending Mode to Color
- Create a Levels Adjustment Layer
- Clipping Mask Trick
- Subtract From Shape
- Apply a Layer Mask to The Vector Shape
- The Fade Command
- Subtract Front Shape
- Add the Wall Ornament to The Mask
- Build a Channel-Based Mask for the Ornament
- Apply the Channel Mask and Fine-Tune the Result
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Conclusion
- Related Links
What You Will Learn
- How to recolor a wall quickly with Quick Selection and a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer
- How to build a precise vector shape around a wall with the Pen tool
- How to apply color with a Color blend mode and control brightness with a Levels adjustment layer
- How to keep a Levels adjustment layer’s effect confined to one shape using Blend Clipped Layers as Group
- How to isolate a hard-to-select detail with a channel-based mask
Requirements
Before you start
- Photoshop 2020 (version 21.1) or later, or the current version
Keyboard Shortcuts
| Action | Windows | macOS |
|---|---|---|
| Deselect part of a Quick Selection | Alt click-drag | Option click-drag |
| Load a shape or channel thumbnail as a selection | Ctrl click | Command click |
| Cut the work path | Ctrl X | Command X |
| Paste the work path | Ctrl V | Command V |
| Duplicate the selection to its own layer | Ctrl J | Command J |
| Invert a channel | Ctrl I | Command I |
| Create an inverted layer mask from a selection | Alt click | Option click |
Tutorial Assets
Download the tutorial Image here!
Change Wall Colors in Photoshop with the Hue/Saturation Adjustment
In your Toolbar, use the Quick Selection tool and click-and-drag to select the wall you want to colorize.
If an unwanted area is included in the selection, hold Alt (Windows) or Option (macOS) as you click-and-drag on the areas you want to deselect.
To select more areas, just keep on clicking-and-dragging to include them in the selection.
Go to the bottom of your Layers panel and click on the New Adjustment Layer icon and select the Hue/Saturation adjustment layer. Photoshop will then automatically create a layer mask based on the selection you made.
This means if you adjust any of the sliders in the Properties panel, it only changes the color within the selection. Feel free to experiment on the sliders and see how adjusting each slider can change the overall look of the color!
The only disadvantage of this technique is the Lightness slider. Push it too high or too low and it can flatten the color into an unrealistic look that affects your whole image.
However, it is still conducive to reimagining how space or object looks in a different set of hue, saturation, and lightness.
Fine-Tuning Your Layer Mask
Since the selection was far from perfect, and so is the layer mask, you can adjust it by using the Brush tool and setting the Foreground color as white(#ffffff).
With the Brush tool, paint over the wall areas not included in the selection earlier. For example, the wall on the bedside table area is still gray and you can include it in the current layer mask by painting over it.
On the contrary, paint with the color black(#000000) if you want to deselect areas from the layer mask.
PRO TIP: To quickly increase or decrease your brush tip size, press [ or ].
Using Hue/Saturation is the essential technique for changing an object’s color. Delete this adjustment layer now to move on to a more precise, advanced technique.
Change The Color of a Wall with a Vector Shape
Next, learn to change the color of a wall using vectors and fill layers. It’s the same core approach our guide to changing the color of an object in Photoshop uses on smaller objects.
Create a Vector Path
Use the Pen tool to create crisp lines through a Vector Mask.
The Pen tool helps me create a Work Path, and from this path, it allows me to create a Vector Shape or a Vector Mask.
A vector object is created mathematically and produces smooth curves or crisp lines that are connected by points.
Since it does not consist of pixels, the quality of a vector does not diminish no matter how much you scale it up or down. That is why vectors work best for logos, icons, web design elements, and products that come in many sizes.
With the Pen tool active, create a vector path that traces the back wall’s shape. Starting from the top-right corner, continue clicking on the other corners until you come full circle and return to the original point. Clicking that point again closes the work path.
Convert the Work Path into a Vector Shape
Next, convert this work path into a shape from which it can contain the color of the wall’s shape.
Click on the New Adjustment Layer icon and select the Solid Color fill layer.
Right away, the area outside the work path is inverted. On the Color Picker window, select the right color for your wall.
Hue determines the color you can replace it with, and you can see the range of hue on the slider from orange to green and red.
Saturation determines the intensity of the color set on the Hue slider.
Meanwhile, Lightness determines how bright or dark the Hue is.
Combine Vector Shapes
At the moment, you can see how everything outside of the work path is filled with the selected color but not the wall itself.
To invert the effect and fill the wall instead, go to the Options bar and click on this icon and select Combine Shapes.
Set Blending Mode to Color
With the basic principles of HSB in mind, we need to apply the hue and saturation of the blue onto the wall’s brightness.
To do that, click on the Blending Mode drop-down menu. As you can see, the list of blending modes is divided with a line according to their respective categories. To know more about blending modes, read our complete guide to Photoshop blend modes.
At the very bottom of the list controls the components of hue, saturation, and brightness (HSB). Namely:
- Hue
- Saturation
- Color
- Luminosity
Select the Color blending mode as this disregards the brightness and only applies the hue and saturation onto the wall. As a result, you achieve this realistic appearance that blends perfectly on the wall.
Create a Levels Adjustment Layer
Looking at the Layers panel, we have a vector shape made from a Solid Color fill layer, and use this vector shape to do two actions:
- Apply a color
- Mask an area
It is important to establish that this is not a vector mask, but you are treating it as a vector mask.
To show you an advanced technique, click on the New Adjustment Layer icon and select Levels.
On the Properties panel, dragging the black point to the right makes the pixels darker; dragging the point makes the pixels lighter. Meanwhile, the center point controls the image contrast.
Right below it is a slider that controls how dark the darkest pixels are and how light the lightest pixels are. This only shows how the Levels adjustment layer can give you complete control of your image’s brightness.
If you want to make an extreme adjustment that only affects the wall, you have to select the vector shape.
You can do so by holding Ctrl (Windows) or Command (macOS) as you click on the Vector Shape thumbnail on your Layers panel.
Then, delete the mask from the Levels adjustment layer. Click the New Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the Layers panel to create a new mask based on the active selection.
It looks fine but once you expand the vector shape by adding new points, the mask doesn’t change along with the new vector shape.
This adds more labor, since you have to recreate the mask every time the vector shape changes. A good mask should adapt to new changes on its own.
Clipping Mask Trick
If we apply a Clipping Mask, the Levels apply that adjustment directly to the layer below without affecting the Background layer, and unfortunately, this isn’t a good result.
Here’s what you can do for a better solution, double-click on the side of the Color Fill layer to bring out the Layer Style window.
On Advanced Blending, the box is checked for Blend Clipped Layers as Group.
If you uncheck the box, the Levels adjustment layer effect applies to all the layers below and within the selection. With this result, we can apply extreme adjustments to the Levels without affecting the areas outside of the selection.
Press OK to exit the window.
Now, if you expand the vector shape, the mask adapts to the change and extends the effect into the new area. You can expand or reduce the area as you go.
Go back to the Levels adjustment layer and set your preferred adjustments. You now have total control over the image’s contrast and brightness, which the Hue/Saturation layer alone cannot give you.
Subtract From Shape
To refine the vector shape that only applies to the wall and not on the bed, you need to create a vector shape that subtracts from the current shape.
To do so, go to the Layers panel, select the vector shape you are working on, and select the Pen tool.
With the Pen tool, create a path around the areas you want to subtract from.
Once you have closed the path and it doesn’t subtract from the vector shape, go to the Options bar and select Subtract Front Shape.
When you create a path around the painting on the wall and select Subtract Front Shape, the selection is now deselected from the vector shape.
You can refine the shape’s edges with the Feather and Density sliders in the Properties panel.
In a certain situation, what happens if you create a vector path without applying it to the appropriate layer?
Let me show you by not having the Color Fill layer selected, but creating a path with the Pen tool anyway.
Once we have completed the work path, nothing happens, even though the Subtract Front Shape is selected.
If this accidentally happened to the Paths panel, make sure that the work path is selected.
Then, choose Window and check the Paths by clicking on it.
With the work path selected, press CtrlX (Windows) or CommandX (macOS) to cut.
On the Layers panel, select the Color Fill layer and press CtrlV (Windows) or CommandV (macOS) to paste, and Photoshop will mask it out.
Apply a Layer Mask to The Vector Shape
You are already using a vector shape to color the wall and mask out unwanted areas. You can also add a layer mask to mask out even more.
Right now, reflected light on the wall from the wall lamp is still in the vector shape, and a layer mask can be used to retrieve it.
Click on the New Layer Mask icon to create a layer mask.
Select the Brush tool and set black (#000000) as the Foreground color. Paint over the reflected light on the wall to bring it back from the vector shape.
The Fade Command
If the Brush tool effect is too intense, go to Edit > Fade Brush Tool.
The Fade command changes the opacity and the blending mode of the last tool that you used.
Since you used the Brush tool, its name is Fade Brush Tool, and you can adjust the Opacity until the light matches the composite.
Then, press OK to apply the changes.
Subtract Front Shape
Once again, subtract other parts of the image from the current vector shape. Select the vector shape layer from the Layers panel and select the Pen tool.
On the Options bar, make sure that you select Subtract Front Shape.
Then, trace along the edges of the bed to start removing it from the vector shape. If the edges are not perfect, just keep going as you have time to fine-tune it later.
For curved areas, long-click on the Pen tool, and select the Curvature Pen Tool on the drop-down menu.
Use this to hover over the existing paths and add a point. Click-and-drag on it to bend the straight lines and match the curved edges of the bed and the bedside table.
Keep on repeating this step until you have entirely excluded every other object in the room, and the vector shape covers only the wall.
This may take some time, but with the Pen tool, you can guarantee accurate, sharp lines.
To organize each of the walls you have applied a vector shape to, place them all in one group and renamed it as “Color Change.”
Add the Wall Ornament to The Mask
There is an ornamental decoration on the right side of the wall that is hard to exclude from the vector shape.
This calls for a channel-based mask to select it from the vector shape.
Then, delete the applied layer mask so you can see how the color fill affects the layer.
On the Toolbar, select the Rectangular Marquee tool and select the area around the ornamental wall decoration.
Then, go to the original Background layer and press CtrlJ (Windows) or CommandJ (macOS) to place the wall decoration in its own layer.
Click on the New Adjustment Layer icon and select Solid Color.
On the Color Picker window, set white(#ffffff) as your Background color.
Build a Channel-Based Mask for the Ornament
Go to the Channels panel, disable every channel, and enable one channel at a time to see which channel has a stronger contrast between the foreground and the background.
In this image, the Blue channel has a stronger contrast. Click-and-drag the Blue channel onto the New Channel icon to duplicate it.
An excellent point to remember is that Channels also function the same way as a layer mask: “White reveals, Black conceals.”
To reveal, the wall decoration needs to be white and everything else to be black.
At the moment, the wall decoration is the darkest part of the layer. Invert this by pressing CtrlI (Windows) or CommandI (macOS).
Now, the wall decoration is white, but the wall is still grey. You can turn this into black by going to Image > Adjustments > Levels.
Using the same technique you used earlier, click on the black point and drag to the right to darken the dark pixels further.
Then, drag the white point to the left to further brighten the bright pixels.
To load the white pixels as a selection, hold Ctrl (Windows) or Command (macOS) and click on the Blue channel copy.
Then, click the RGB channel to enable all channel layers and restore the original colors.
On the Layers panel, enable the Background layer and the Color Change group.
Apply the Channel Mask and Fine-Tune the Result
Then, add the new selection into the Color Change group and onto the layer controlling the right wall where the wall decoration is hanging on.
If you click the New Layer Mask icon now, the blue color applies to the wall decoration instead of the wall.
When this happens, you can go to the Properties panel and click on the Invert button to invert the effect, and the blue color applies on the wall instead.
A faster way is to hold Alt (Windows) or Option (macOS) as you click the New Layer Mask icon, which creates an inverted mask instantly.
To adjust, select the Brush tool and set black(#000000) as your Foreground color and paint parts of the wall ornament to hide pixels and refine the layer mask.
With everything in its layer, you have total control of the color and luminosity of the wall.
If you want to change the color, just double-click on the layer thumbnail to bring out the Color Picker window and set it to color!
Frequently Asked Questions
The fastest way is to select the wall with the Quick Selection tool, then add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer. For total control over the color and brightness, trace the wall with the Pen tool instead, then apply a Solid Color fill layer set to the Color blend mode.
The Lightness slider in a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer controls the entire tonal range with one control. Push it too far in either direction and it crushes the shadows or blows out the highlights, since there is no separate contrast control.
A vector shape made with the Pen tool gives you crisp, straight edges that a selection tool struggles to match on flat surfaces like walls. It also doubles as an editable mask for a Solid Color fill layer.
The Color blending mode applies only the hue and saturation of a layer and ignores its brightness. That lets a solid color fill take on the wall’s existing shading and texture instead of flattening it.
Double-click beside the Color Fill layer to open Layer Style, then uncheck Blend Clipped Layers as Group under Advanced Blending. This lets a clipped Levels adjustment layer affect every layer below it while staying confined to the color fill layer’s shape.
Duplicate the color channel with the most contrast between the detail and the wall, then adjust it with Levels until the detail is white and the wall is black. Load it as a selection and turn that into a layer mask.
Yes. Build a separate vector shape, color fill layer, and Levels adjustment layer for each wall, and keep them in their own layer group. That way you can adjust each wall’s color and contrast independently.
No. This tutorial was recorded in Photoshop 2020, but Hue/Saturation, the Pen tool, Levels, and channel masking all work the same way in the current version of Photoshop.
Conclusion
Now you know two reliable ways to change wall colors in Photoshop. Use the five-minute Hue/Saturation trick for quick mockups, or the fully editable vector-shape setup for work that has to hold up.
The second method takes more steps. But a Levels adjustment layer confined to your color fill shape gives you total control over brightness and contrast, more than a single Lightness slider ever could.
Watch the full video above for every step in real time, and comment on the video if you have a question.
Selections and Masking Mastery
Complete course includes 2.5 hours of step-by-step lessons, 6 structured modules, downloadable practice files, and custom Photoshop brushes. Everything you need to master selections and masks in one place.
Keep going
Next, take channel-based masking further with our full guide to channel masking in Photoshop.
Related Links
Final Image
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![After: How To Change Wall Colors In Photoshop! [Pro Technique]](https://photoshoptrainingchannel.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/change-wall-color-after.jpg)
![Before: How To Change Wall Colors In Photoshop! [Pro Technique]](https://photoshoptrainingchannel.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/change-wall-color-before.jpg)
