Replace colors effectively with Photoshop

In this tutorial I will show you how to combine selection and color editing tools which can greatly replace or enhance specific colors of an object. You will see how we do it on a beautiful flower!


Below is our starting image of a beautiful flower in a pool. You can download this picture or use another one of your own

Step 1: First I use the Magnetic Lasso Tool to select most parts of the flower, but not include the petal at the top. When you use this tool to trace along the flower's edges, you will notice that it will automatically stick to these edges because of the high color's contrast. This tool is often the best choice for extracting an object that has edges' colors highly different with that of the environment

Continue tracing until we have a closed path which will automatically turn into a selection area

Step 2: Before replacing its colors we should create a copy layer by pressing Ctrl-J and name this layer "Middle part". Then go to Image>Adjustments>Hue/Saturation or press Ctrl-U to bring up the Hue/Saturation box. Color it orange with these settings:

Now our flower will look like this:

So you have already learned how to use Magnetic Lasso and Hue/Saturation tool to color an object. Next we will learn about Selective Color tool, a nice replacing tool without too much accuracy!
Step 3: Press Ctrl-left click on the "Middle part" layer to select the flower again. Then press Ctrl-Shift-I to invert the selection. Now set your Background as the current layer and press Ctrl-J to duplicate the selection area and name it Outer part ( which includes the top petal and the environment)

Step 4: Go to Image>Adjustments>Selective Color and in the "Colors" drop down box, select Magentas as the editing color and use these parameters to make the outer petal pinker!

Let's see how our image looks like at this point:

And you have already learned about the Selective Color tool! Remember we can use this tool to replace or enhance a specific color (like pink in this case) without selecting it carefully.
Next we will learn about how to use Quick Mask mode to make a selection
Step 5: Press Ctrl-Shift-I to select the flower again and enter Quick Mask mode (it lies at the bottom of the left toolbar, by default). Now if you uncheck the Eye icons on all layers you will see the masked area clearer

By default, the masked area will be red with an opacity of 50%. Turn on all the Eye icons again, set Background as the current layer

Use the Brush tool with a suitable brush size to paint the outer petals until we get something like this when uncheck all the Eye icons:

Step 6: When you get to this point, turn on all the Eye icons again, leave the Quick Mask mode and press Ctrl-J to make a copy of the selected area and put this layer on the top, name it "Inner part". We will color it yellow by going to Image>Adjustments> Color Balance with these parameters:

And now the inner petals are yellow! The result is shown below:

You can continue to color other petals with one of these techniques. In real life, maybe you don't need to use all of the techniques mentioned above in the same image but knowing how to use them is good for your skill. Hope you enjoy this tutorial!