How to pick a colour and change it in the image?

[user_0815]

Hi,

I want to pick a certain colour from my image and change it's hue, saturation and brightness wherever it occurs in my image. This could for example be fine tuning certain colours in product photos, change the colour of flowers on a model's dress or remove nasty fringing in high contrast images (when filters won't do it). 

What's the best way to do this in AP? 

Thanks!

[Dan C]

Hi user_0815

One way of doing this would be to create a new HSL Adjustment layer (Ctrl+U) and selecting specific colour ranges to target from the drop down list. This is by default 'Master' but can be changed to target specific ranges.

However this isn't as specific as certain hues, you can use Select>Select Sampled Colour to pinpoint colours and adjusting the tolerance. Once you are happy your selection covers the colour range desired, simply click Apply and then create a HSL Adjustment layer (Ctrl+U) using the selection you have. I hope this helps!

[user_0815]

Thanks! The HSL Adjustment by itself isn't the right tool for that. That's are only six colours and they never are the colour I need to edit.

The "Select>Select Sampled Colour" actually worked really well at the first attempt. But after that it always selects the same pixels regardless which colour I pick.

First I select the pixel layer and press cmd+D to deselect all. Then I pick a colour, then I click the menu item  "Select>Select Sampled Colour". What am I doing wrong?

 

[Dan C]

The Select Sampled Colour option will make a selection of pixels when you left click on the image, based on the colour of pixel you click on. Please see my attached GIF showing this in action, when I make the orange selection I left click on the orange sticker, then I left click on the blue and it changes my selection based on that pixel colour. 

Once you've left clicked on your colour to start the selection, you can adjust the tolerance using the appropriately named slider until you are happy with the selection's cover 

[user_0815]

Thanks again. That's it! So it has nothing to do with the colour picker or the selected colour. The colour is picked AFTER clicking on the menu item.

Maybe translation plays into this as well. In my language (German) I understood it as "Make a selection of the colour that you have picked" (past tense). So that's why I used the colour picker first:

1. Pick a colour using the colour picker
2. Click on the menu item "Select Sampled Colour" 
3. Try to use the colour picker tool or change the colour wheel to change the sampled colour

It did not cross my mind to just click anywhere while the slider-box is up. I always tried to activate the colour picker first or change the selected colour in the wheel. But it makes it a lot easier. A little hint like "Click to select colour" or changing the pointer to a pipette would help a lot.

This feature is actually really good and I wish I had seen it earlier. Unfortunately it's a bit hidden and not quite self-explanatory. I think it would be worth having it as a dedicated adjustment layer or even colour editor. I must admit that I am spoiled by the powerful colour editor in Capture One.

[Dan C]

I understand, my apologies for not explaining it clearly originally! 

2 minutes ago, user_0815 said:

A little hint like "Click to select colour" or changing the pointer to a pipette would help a lot.

There's a small hint in the footer bar of the software, but this is often missed.

6 minutes ago, user_0815 said:

This feature is actually really good and I wish I had seen it earlier. Unfortunately it's a bit hidden and not quite self-explanatory

I'll pass your comments through to our documentation team and see if we can change anything or create a tutorial better explaining the tool to educate others   

[henryg]

Yes please for tutorial

Even though it's easy now I have tried it, a tutorial would mean anyone searching would find the technique more easily.

[user_0815]

As a follow-up: This feature is now in the HSL Tool. I don't know when it came but I want to say a big thank you. I find it just perfect.

Click on one of the solid colours and adjust range and feathering. Dragging the line between the dots moves the range – great little detail and very useful.

It takes just seconds to make a lot of adjustents.