PhotoshopElements

Adjust saturation and hue

The Hue/Saturation command adjusts the hue (color), saturation (purity), and lightness of the entire image or of individual color components in an image.

Use the Hue slider to add special effects, to color a black and white image (like a sepia effect), or to change the range of colors in a portion of an image.

Changing colors in an image using the Hue/Saturation command

A.
Original

B.
Entire image changed to sepia using the Colorize option

C.
Magenta colors targeted in the Edit menu and changed using the Hue slider

Use the Saturation slider to make colors more vivid or more muted. A good use of this adjustment would be to add a color punch to a landscape by adding saturation to all the colors, or to tone down a distracting color, like a vivid red sweater in a portrait.

Before and after adjusting color saturation

Use the Lightness slider in conjunction with the other adjustments to lighten or darken a portion of an image. Take care not to use it on an entire image—this adjustment reduces the overall tonal range.

Change color saturation or hue

  1. Do one of the following:
    • Choose Enhance > Adjust Color > Adjust Hue/Saturation.

    • Choose Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Hue/Saturation, or open an existing Hue/Saturation adjustment layer.

      The two color bars in the dialog box represent the colors in their order on the color wheel. The upper bar shows the color before the adjustment; the lower bar shows how the adjustment affects all hues at full saturation.

  2. In the Edit drop-down menu, choose which colors to adjust:
    • Choose Master to adjust all colors at once.

    • Choose one of the other preset color ranges listed for the color you want to adjust. An adjustment slider appears between the color bars, which you can use to edit any range of hues.

  3. For Hue, enter a value or drag the slider until the colors appear as you want.

    The values displayed in the text box reflect the number of degrees of rotation around the color wheel from the pixel’s original color. A positive value indicates clockwise rotation, a negative value counterclockwise rotation. Values range from ‑180 to +180.

  4. For Saturation, enter a value or drag the slider to the right to increase the saturation or to the left to decrease it. Values range from ‑100 to +100.
  5. For Lightness, enter a value or drag the slider to the right to increase the lightness or to the left to decrease it. Values range from ‑100 to +100. Be careful when using this slider on an entire image. It will reduce the tonal range of the overall image.
  6. Click OK. Or, to cancel your changes and start over, hold down Option, and click Reset.

Modify the range of Hue/Saturation sliders

  1. Do one of the following:
    • Choose Enhance > Adjust Color > Adjust Hue/Saturation.

    • Choose Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Hue/Saturation, or open an existing Hue/Saturation adjustment layer.

  2. Choose an individual color from the Edit menu.
  3. Do any of the following to the adjustment slider:
    • Drag one of the triangles to adjust the amount of color fall-off without affecting the range.

    • Drag one of the gray bars to adjust the range without affecting the amount of color fall-off.

    • Drag the gray center part to move the entire adjustment slider, selecting a different color area.

    • Drag one of the vertical white bars next to the dark gray center part to adjust the range of the color component. Increasing the range decreases the color fall-off, and vice versa.

      To move the color bar and the adjustment slider bar together, Command-drag the color bar.

      Adjustment slider

      A.
      Adjusts color fall-off without affecting range

      B.
      Adjusts range without affecting color fall-off

      C.
      Adjusts the range of color component

      D.
      Moves entire slider

      If you modify the adjustment slider so that it falls into a different color range, the name changes to reflect this. For example, if you choose Yellow and alter its range so that it falls in the red part of the color bar, the name changes to Red 2. You can convert up to six of the individual color ranges to varieties of the same color range (for example, Red 1 through Red 6).

      Note: By default, the color range selected when you choose a color component is 30° wide, with 30° color fall-off on either side. Setting the fall-off too low can produce banding in the image.
  4. To edit the range by choosing colors from the image, select the eyedropper, and click the image. Use the eyedropper + tool to add to the range; use the eyedropper - tool to subtract from the range.

    While the eyedropper tool is selected, you can also press Shift to add to the range or press Option to subtract from it.