Replacing Color in Photoshop CS2

... replace color while maintaining texture and shading

Douglas Dun from California, U.S., using Photoshop CS2 with Windows XP, writes in with:

[Quote:] I would like to know how to replace a color while still maintaining the texture and shading of the surface the color is on.

Photoshop 911:

In previous versions we would use the "Replace Color" command, but in this new Photoshop, there's a new tool for you to abuse -- the Color Replacement tool.

Using this tool you can make quick color changes in quickly and easily.

Choose the Color Replacement tool from the Toolbox (it's hidden on the Healing Brush tool's flyout menu).

Then, go to the tool options bar and set the Mode pop-up menu to Color, the Sampling pop-up menu to Once, and the Limits pop-up menu to Find Edges.

You'll probably also want to adjust your brush settings if necessary.

Now Alt/click (Mac: [option]-click) on the color you want to replace.

Next click on the Set Foreground Color swatch in the Toolbox and choose a new color to use in your image.

Now, just paint away the old color with the new.

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Comments

[Damien]

"Where do I find this options bar?? I just see a Pupil Size and a Darken Amount Dropdown..."

Wrong tool, you're using the Red-Eye Reduction tool it sounds like, but I could be wrong.

The Colour Replacement tool, as some people have already said, is utterly useless in my experience. It's almost easier to physically change the colour yourself by actually painting it in on another layer and using blending options than it is to spend time trying to coax the Colour Replacer to work.

[Stefan Carey]

Very good tutorial. I'm nearly there. The replacement sort of works, I am trying to replace the background red in the icons with a yellow, but the yellow is mixing itself to the red and creating a brown. I have checked that the settings I used are correct, but obviously, there's something I forgot.

[dominique]

Hi, I'm trying to swith an orange machine into a white machine with the color replacement tool.

I can't do it in white, each time I can only have a gray.

Do you know why I can't have a true white ?

Thanks !

[Tips]

Hello -- have you expressed your problem clearly enough?

You said:
> I am trying to switch a white-painted object to the
> various lighted shades of pantone 336 green, and
> the transparency level of the color replacement
> tool in COLOR mode is SO transparent

I think in your situation you DO NOT NEED the Color Replacement tool (Besides, if you've got "Pupil Size" in the Options Bar, then you've got the "Red Eye" tool, and NOT the Color Replacement Tool. :-)

But try this:

Rather than "replacing" the color of the "white" object,

Select Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Hue/Saturation

Click "Colorize"

Now, increast the "Saturation" until it gets "rude"
Decrease the "Darkness" until it gets "rude"

Now shift the "Hue" slider to find your color range.

Once you have your color range, begin backing off the "Saturation" and "Darkness" until the image starts to look good.

You can also adjust the opacity of that adjustment layer using the "Opacity" slider on the Layers Palette.

Is this more what you're looking for?

If not, then we don't understand what you're trying to do.

Post the picture some place, or go to the emergency room:
http://www.Photoshop911.com/emergency.html
and post so a para-medic can see your image.

:-)

[MIKO]

This tool is NOT very helpful. I am trying to switch a white-painted object to the various lighted shades of pantone 336 green, and the transparency level of the color replacement tool in COLOR mode is SO transparent that I only manage to get a light green. Also, if something is pure white, the color replacement tool refuses to touch it. Meanwhile, I've tried the other modes also- luminosity basically destrys detail, ironically, and is TOO opaque.

[Josh]

> Then, go to the tool options bar and set the Mode pop-up menu to Color, the Sampling pop-up menu to Once, and the Limits pop-up menu to Find Edges.

Where do I find this options bar?? I just see a Pupil Size and a Darken Amount Dropdown...