How To Select and Change Colors In Photoshop
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Your choices stick across every tutorial on this device.
You can change colors in Photoshop three ways: the Color Replacement Tool, a Hue/Saturation layer, or its on-image adjustment tool.
Maybe someone is wearing the wrong color shirt, or you would like to see what your car would look like in a different color. Whatever the reason, you will need to know how to recolor an object in a photo.
This tutorial is for beginners. The first method is a quick paint-on fix. The other two use an adjustment layer, so you work non-destructively and can come back and change your mind later.
By the end, you will be able to recolor a beanie hat, then turn every blue in the photo green for a Christmas theme, without repainting anything.
The video was recorded in Photoshop 2015.5 (version 17.0), and all three tools work the same way in the current version.
Note: The Hue/Saturation panel was redesigned in Photoshop 2025 (version 26.6, April 2025) with color swatches and larger sliders. Every control in this tutorial is still there under the same name, and the new Hue and Saturation adjustment layer tutorial walks through the new layout.
Key Takeaways
- The Color Replacement Tool is nested under the Brush Tool, and it paints directly on the pixels, so duplicate the object to its own layer first.
- Set the tool to Color mode with Limits on Find Edges, and it stays inside the object’s edge on its own.
- When the Hue slider leaves patches of orange and yellow behind, tick Colorize to push the whole selection to one color.
- The on-image adjustment tool changes saturation when you drag, and it changes hue only when you hold Ctrl (Windows) or Command (macOS) while you drag.
- Color Range misses shades when an object holds many blues, but the on-image adjustment tool catches every blue in the photo at once.
- Reopen a Hue/Saturation layer and the dropdown resets to Master, so pick Blues again to see the edit you made.
Table of contents
- What You Will Learn
- Requirements
- Keyboard Shortcuts
- Method 1: Change Colors in Photoshop with the Color Replacement Tool
- Method 2: Change an Object’s Color with a Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer
- Select the Object with the Quick Selection Tool
- Change the Hue and Turn On Colorize
- Method 3: Replace Every Shade of a Color with the On-image Adjustment Tool
- Shift All the Blues in the Photo to Green
- Widen the Color Range and Refine the Green
- Come Back and Edit the Colors Later
- Which Color Change Method Should You Use?
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Conclusion
- Related Links
What You Will Learn
- How to pick a source color with the same luminosity in the Color Picker
- How to set up the Color Replacement Tool so it stays inside the object
- How to make a quick selection with the Quick Selection Tool and subtract the parts you do not want
- How to recolor a selection with a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer and Colorize
- How to shift every shade of one color in a photo with the on-image adjustment tool
- How to widen the color range and mask out anything that should keep its color
Requirements
Before you start
- Photoshop 2015.5 (version 17.0) or the current version
- A photo with an object whose color you want to change
Keyboard Shortcuts
| Action | Windows | macOS |
|---|---|---|
| Enlarge the brush | ] | ] |
| Duplicate the selection to a new layer | Ctrl J | Command J |
| Zoom Tool | Z | Z |
| Subtract from a selection (Quick Selection Tool) | Alt drag | Option drag |
| Change hue with the on-image adjustment tool | Ctrl drag | Command drag |
| Step backward through your changes | Ctrl Alt Z | Command Option Z |
Method 1: Change Colors in Photoshop with the Color Replacement Tool
The Color Replacement Tool is a tool you probably have never used before, but it can be very powerful. It is nested under the Brush Tool in the toolbar.
It paints a new color over an object while keeping the shading, and it works well for simple projects. It is an easy tool to use and understand.
- Click and hold the Brush Tool in the toolbar, then choose the Color Replacement Tool from the flyout.
- Double-click the foreground color swatch to open the Color Picker. This color becomes your source color.
- Click the beanie hat in the photo to sample its blue. Then drag up in the picker to a red with the same luminosity, maybe a little darker, and click OK.
- In the Options bar, set Mode to Color and Limits to Find Edges.
- Click and drag over the hat. Every pixel you paint changes to the foreground color.
- Tap ] (Windows) or ] (macOS) to enlarge the brush and keep painting. The color does not spill onto her face or the background, because Photoshop is replacing blue and finds no blue there.
Warning: The Color Replacement Tool is destructive. It changes the pixels on the layer itself, so if you later decide on green instead of red, you have to paint everything all over again.
Tip: To work non-destructively, draw a selection around the object with the Lasso Tool first. Then press CtrlJ (Windows) or CommandJ (macOS) to duplicate the selection to its own layer, and paint on that copy.
For something small and quick, this tool is just fine. If you want more control, there are better ways to change colors in Photoshop. The next two methods give you that control, and so does the Solid Color fill layer method, which keeps every bit of texture.
Method 2: Change an Object’s Color with a Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer
A Hue/Saturation adjustment layer shifts the color without changing the original pixels. If you change your mind later, you can go back and edit the adjustment at any time.
The method has two parts. First you select the object, then you recolor the selection.
Select the Object with the Quick Selection Tool
- Select the Quick Selection Tool in the toolbar.
- Click and drag over the beanie hat to create a very quick selection. Photoshop follows the edges of the hat as you drag.
- Tap Z (Windows) or Z (macOS) to switch to the Zoom Tool, then click to zoom in on any area that should not be selected.
- Hold Alt (Windows) or Option (macOS) and click and drag over that area to subtract it from the selection.
- Zoom back out with View > Fit on Screen.
Note: The selection does not need to be perfect at this stage. You will clean up the edges on the layer mask after the color change.
Change the Hue and Turn On Colorize
- With the selection active, click the Create new fill or adjustment layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel and choose Hue/Saturation. Photoshop turns your selection into the layer mask.
- Click and drag the Hue slider in the Properties panel to change the color of the beanie.
- Look for patches of orange and yellow. Not all the colors change at the same time, because the hat holds many shades of blue.
- Tick the Colorize checkbox. Photoshop colorizes the entire masked area with one hue.
- Drag Hue to the red you want. Then adjust Saturation and Lightness until the red matches the scene, usually a little darker and less saturated than the first result.
Because the color lives on an adjustment layer with a layer mask, you can come back at any time. Want the hat green instead? Drag Hue again.
Tip: Zoom in on the strands of hair around the hat. Select the Brush Tool and paint with black on the layer mask wherever the new color spills onto her hair or face. White reveals the adjustment and black conceals it.
Method 3: Replace Every Shade of a Color with the On-image Adjustment Tool
Now, what if you want a Christmas theme, where her hat is green and the blue on her shirt is green too?
Your first thought might be Select > Color Range. It selects the color you click and finds similar colors around the image. The problem is that there are so many different shades of blue here that you will not get a good selection.
The fix is a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer again, but this time with its on-image adjustment tool. It is the small hand icon in the Properties panel.
Shift All the Blues in the Photo to Green
- Add a new Hue/Saturation adjustment layer.
- Click the on-image adjustment tool, the hand icon, in the Properties panel.
- Hold Ctrl (Windows) or Command (macOS), then click the hat and drag. The blue you clicked shifts to green, and every other blue in the image, including the shirt, turns green too.
Drag left or right in the image without a modifier key to decrease or increase the saturation of the color range you clicked. Hold Ctrl (Windows) or Command (macOS) while you drag to change the hue instead.
Look at the two color gradients at the bottom of the panel. They tell you exactly what is happening: the blues on the top bar are being converted into the greens on the bottom bar.
Widen the Color Range and Refine the Green
In some areas, not all the blue turns green. Those shades sit outside the range Photoshop is adjusting, so widen it.
- Click and drag the marker under the gradients to the left to widen the range. It can pop over to the other end of the bar, and you can keep dragging it there until the hat and the shirt are fully green.
- Do the same on the right side only if some blue still shows. In this photo there is no reason to.
- Click the eye icon on the adjustment layer to compare the before and after.
- Lower Saturation a little and bring Lightness down a touch. A bright green is too colorful for this photo, and a darker, quieter green sits better in the scene.
Tip: If part of the photo should stay blue, paint with black on this layer’s mask over that area, and the original blue comes back. Want the hat blue but the shirt green? Paint black over the hat.
This photo has no blue in the background, so there is nothing to mask. If the background is the part you need to recolor, the change background colors in Photoshop tutorial shows three ways to do it without halos.
Come Back and Edit the Colors Later
Click the adjustment layer’s thumbnail to reopen it, and the edits seem to have vanished. They have not. The panel opens on Master, which shows the sliders for the whole image.
Choose Blues from the dropdown, and the changes you made reappear, ready for more adjustment.
The dropdown also lists Reds, Yellows, Greens, Cyans and Magentas. Pick Reds, for example, and the Hue, Saturation and Lightness sliders affect only the reds. The range widget sets exactly which reds.
If an experiment goes wrong, press CtrlAltZ (Windows) or CommandOptionZ (macOS) to step back through your changes until you are back where you started.
Which Color Change Method Should You Use?
Each method suits a different job.
- Color Replacement Tool: a small, quick fix on a single object, when you are sure you will not change your mind. Duplicate the object to its own layer first.
- Hue/Saturation with Colorize: one object you can select, recolored to any hue you like, with a layer mask to tidy the edges.
- On-image adjustment tool: every shade of one color across the whole photo, changed at once, with a mask to protect anything that should keep its color.
The two adjustment layer methods stay editable, so when in doubt, start with one of those.
Frequently Asked Questions
The Color Replacement Tool is nested under the Brush Tool in the toolbar. Click and hold the Brush Tool icon and pick it from the flyout. It paints your foreground color over the pixels while keeping their shading.
Set Limits to Find Edges and Mode to Color in the Options bar. Photoshop then replaces only pixels close to the color under the brush when you start painting. If the face and background hold none of that color, the brush leaves them alone even when it overlaps them.
An object rarely holds one exact color. Each shade moves by the same amount, so some land on orange and some on yellow. Tick Colorize in the Hue/Saturation panel to push the whole masked area to one hue.
Colorize pushes every color inside the mask to a single hue chosen by the Hue slider. Use Saturation and Lightness to match the new color to the scene. Turn it on when a plain Hue shift leaves stray colors behind.
Add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer and click the on-image adjustment tool, the hand icon in the Properties panel. Hold Ctrl (Windows) or Command (macOS), click a blue area and drag. Every blue in the photo shifts together, and the range markers under the color bars let you include more shades.
The Properties panel reopens on Master, which shows the sliders for the whole image. Your edit lives in one color range, so choose Blues, or whichever range you adjusted, from the dropdown. The sliders and range markers then show exactly what you set.
Color Range picks the color you click and the colors similar to it. A knit hat holds dozens of shades of blue, and many fall outside that similarity. The on-image adjustment tool in a Hue/Saturation layer shifts the whole range of blues instead, so nothing gets missed.
Yes. A Hue/Saturation adjustment layer sits above the photo and changes how it looks without altering its pixels. Click the layer thumbnail to edit the color again, or delete the layer to get the original back.
Conclusion
You now have three ways to change colors in Photoshop. The Color Replacement Tool is the quick paint-on fix. A Hue/Saturation layer with Colorize recolors one selected object, and the on-image adjustment tool shifts every shade of a color at once.
None of them needs a perfect selection. A few strokes of black on the layer mask clean up any spill onto hair or skin.
Watch the video above to see each method on the beanie hat, 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, learn how to change specific colors in Photoshop with a layer mask.
Related Links
Final Image
Drag the slider to see before and after
Jesus, Love the tutorials. I was working yesterday with the PhotoShop 15.5 using Text and went to my Blending Options and noticed the new and improved Stroke was not there. Did they forget this or did they hide it somewhere else and my old eyes can’t spot it.
Fatarny
Randy,
Do you mean Layer Styles? Blending Options don’t have strokes.
But the Strokes on Layer Styles are still there. If you don’t see them, click on the “FX” icon on the bottom left of the window and select Reset To Default List.
I hope this helps!
Thanks, Jesus, I found the fx before I saw the comments. As for Blending Options we are both right. Right click the layer and at the top the first item is Blending Options and when you select it the Dialogue box says Layer Styles but once again inside the box is Blending Options. Thanks again for taking the time to answer this personally.
Fatarny
That was a very kool tutorial,Thank You
You’re welcome, Lou!
Watching a lot of your video tutorials. Excellent confidence builders, feeling like a pro.
Thanks Jesus.
Thank you, Scott!!!
Great tutorial! Can I ask you how you made the before & after slider on he bottom of the page?
Kailie, it’s a WordPress plugin called TwentyTwenty.
I liked your topic so much because if anyone can replace color in Photoshop can save time for shooting a lot of products. I have a question to you if you don’t mind, how did you select the cap before changing the color?
Thank you!
You’re welcome!
Waw! Your tutorial made my day. My English is not the best but i worked with a translator and understood everything!
ThAnk you very much!
You’re welcome!
I came across your tutorials for the first time yesterday. They are excellent, easy to understand, and you get right to the point. Thank you for making it easier for some of us!!!
I am having a super hard time figuring out how to change part of an image from medium brown to a light cream/white color. There’s no option in the hue/saturation panel like the tutorial. And color replacement tool doesn’t work. It keeps changing the selection to a different color (darker) than what I’ve picked. I cannot figure it out. THanks for any guidance!!!
i want to change this 41414a car color to white ffffff ,how to do .
Hi. I am looking for help on how to change a grey background to white, or almost white for a product shot. I have hundreds of images to change so need a really quick tool that can do an easy job of the task. I used to know how but have not used photoshop for a while so have completely forgotten
Hi I am at work and need to change the color of a chair to a material we have in our system. I have a photo of the color needed to change to but I am unsure how to change it.
Great tutorial, I will be able to change the colour of my own photos or my e-commerce product photos.