How to Change a Color Using Color Range in Lightroom

This guide will give you the easiest ways to change a color using color range in Lightroom.

I often need to change the colors in my photos, so I find this an extremely helpful process to know.

Changing color by selecting a color range in Lightroom is a valuable way to add vibrancy or create a cohesive theme in a photo.

Let’s dive into the tutorial.

How to Change a Color Using Color Range in Lightroom (Two Ways)

Color range selects a section of an image based on its color, and it’s incredibly useful when you want to modify colors in a photo.

Photographers edit color range to suit a theme, sell products, or create a funky vibe.

Switching colors is also a neat editing trick online shops use to showcase their product range in different colors.

A product photographer can easily alter a T-shirt’s hue in Lightroom instead of taking extra photos.

In this tutorial, we will use two different methods to change the color of a lady’s yellow skirt.

The first method, using the HSL/Color panel, is the quickest, but it’s limited. It can only change a color to one close to its hue.

This means if the color is yellow, we can change it to orange or green but cannot switch it to pink, red, purple or blue.

If you want to have the option to change a color to any hue, skip straight to the second method.

The second method changes a color range by creating a Color Range Mask.

This is also the method to use if you want to isolate a section of a photo to edit without affecting the rest of the image.

First Method – Change Color Range Using HSL/Color

The first method we will use to alter a color range in Lightroom is via the HSL/Color panel.

The HSL/Color panel will alter the entire color range in a photo, but it offers limited color scope.

However, it’s a quick and easy color editing option when changing a color range marginally.

Step 1 – Open the Image in the Develop Module

To start, we will open the image in Lightroom’s Develop module.

Select the image you wish to use from Lightroom’s library by clicking on it.

Then head to the top left panel and click the Develop button.

We have chosen an image of a lady in a vibrant yellow skirt.

We want to change the color of her skirt to a deep orange to match an orange-themed advertising campaign.

Step 2 – Head to the HSL Panel

When the image opens in Develop mode, the photo editing panel will appear on the right-hand side of the canvas.

There will be ten editing options to choose from. We will select the fifth option, HSL/Color.

Click the triangle beside HSL/Color to open its editing panel.

The HSL/ Color panel will drop open, presenting the HSL/Color editing options and color sliders.

Across the top of the panel, you can select Hue, Saturation, Luminance, or All.

“All” will change the Hue, Saturation and Luminance in tandem.

To alter the color of the skirt, we will use the color slider that matches the color we wish to change. In this case, the Yellow Slider.

If the skirt were blue, we would use the Blue slider, if it was purple, the Purple slider, and so forth.

When we select Saturation and slide the Yellow slider to the left, we will remove any trace of yellow from the image.

You can see this in the image below, where we have set the Yellow slider to -94.

The lady’s skirt and the wall behind her are now devoid of any yellow tint. The yellow is replaced by a dull grey color.

You can desaturate a color range if you want an indication of which areas of the photo will be affected.

To edit the color range, we click Hue at the top of the panel and slide the Yellow slider either to the left or right.

When the Yellow slider is moved to the right, the yellow color range in the image will change to a greener hue.

When moved to the left, it will amplify the orange hue. However, the color choices stop here. You will not be able to choose another hue.

When you have set the desired hue, you can tweak the color’s saturation and luminance.

Click on the Saturation button above the sliders, and the Saturation sliders will open.

Now, when you move the Yellow slider, it will adjust the saturation of the yellow color range.

Even though the skirt’s color is now orange, Lightroom reads it as if it was still its original color.

This means you must use the original color slider when editing the skirt.

Next, open the Luminance sliders to adjust the skirt’s Luminance.

Below, we have adjusted the Luminance Yellow slider to minus 61. The color is deepened to a dark terracotta color.

This is too dark to match the orange skirt we plan to advertise, so we set the Luminance to plus 68.

In the image below, we have achieved the desired luminance, saturation, and orange hue.

If, at any point, you find that you are not happy with the resulting color, you can click Reset at the bottom of the HSL/Color editing panel.

This will erase all the edits made when using the HSL/Color panel, allowing you to start adjusting the color range from the start.

When you’ve finished editing, click the Before and After view mode to compare the new color to the original color.

The color orange is precisely what we were looking for: vibrant with a punch.

However, as you can see from the image above, the yellow bricks have been included in the edit.

In the case of this project, the altered background colors are not a concern. This is because we are not striving to achieve a realistic image, and we do want the background’s hue to complement the skirt.

However, if you don’t want to change all of the photo’s color range, you can use the following method.

• More: How to Remove Objects in Lightroom (in a Few Clicks)

Method Two – Change A Color Using Color Range Masks

If you’re an editing control freak, this is the technique for you.

Using the Color Range Mask in Lightroom, you can change a color range to absolutely any color.

Not only can you switch any color, but you can also select and target a specific area of the photo.

This means you will not have to change the photo’s entire color range.

Step 1 – Mask the Colored Area

When the image is open in Develop mode, open the Masking panel by clicking the circle icon in the row of icons below Histogram.

The Masking editing panel will open.

You can create a mask using one of the selection options, Subject, Sky or Background, by clicking one of the Add New Mask buttons.

Once clicked, Lightroom’s AI will discern where the outline of the area is and mask it.

However, this will select the entire background, subject or all of the sky.

In our case, we don’t want to select the entire person, only her skirt.

When we want to focus on a color in one section of the photo, we create a Color Range Mask.

To create a Color Range Mask, click Range at the bottom of the Masking panel. Once clicked, a menu will appear. From the menu, select Color Range.

Alternatively, you can use the keyboard shortcut by hitting Shift + J.

An eyedropper icon will appear. Click on the color you wish to alter using the eyedropper. In our case, we have clicked on the yellow skirt.

Once the yellow skirt is clicked, a mask will be created covering this color and all colors in this range.

A layer of translucent red will cover the color range area to indicate it is masked.

In the image above, you can see that Lightroom has masked not only the lady’s yellow skirt but also the yellow bricks and pavement.

If you’re an editing control freak (like me), you will be happy to know you can remove the yellow-hued bricks from the masked area.

We only wanted to select the skirt, but don’t worry, we can easily de-select the other areas using the Masking brush.

• More: 5 Popular Lightroom Effects & How to Create Them

Step 2 – Subtract Areas from The Color Range Mask

If you’re happy with Lightroom’s selection, you can skip to the next step.

To deselect areas of the mask, click the square mask icon at the top right of the canvas.

Icons will appear below the mask icon. Click the minus button, and a drop-down menu will appear.

Select Brush from the menu.

You can now brush over areas of the canvas to remove the mask from these areas.

I have brushed over the yellow-tinted brinks in the background and yellow-masked areas of the pavement.

Keep brushing until you have removed the mask from all areas you do not wish to be altered.

Step 3 – Alter the Selected Color Range’s Color

When you have the perfect mask, you are ready to alter the color of this targeted area.

To do this, open the Color editing panel. You will find the Color panel to the right of your canvas under Tone.

Click the triangle beside Color to open the Color panel.

When the Color panel opens, you will find four sliders: Temp, Tint, Hue and Saturation.

You can adjust the skirt’s color to any hue by sliding the Hue slider.

We moved the Hue slider to the left to change the skirt to blue.

When we change the hue of the skirt, it becomes apparent that not all of the skirt is included in the mask.

If you need to include more areas in a mask, you can.

Click the plus icon below the mask icon and select Brush from the drop-down menu.

When you brush over areas of the canvas, they will be included in the mask.

To change the width of the brush tip, adjust the Brush size slider at the top of the Masking panel.

After fixing the masked area, we can adjust the Temp, Tint, Hue, and Saturation sliders in the Color panel.

The aim of this color-changing game is to change the lady’s yellow skirt to a light sky blue.

We have successfully set a perfect blue hue, so we can move on to editing the rest of the color sliders.

In the image below, the Temp slider has been increased to 5, the Tint increased to 63, and the Saturation to 32.

The color of the skirt looks almost perfect. For a final tweak, we open the Curves panel and adjust the Curve.

If you prefer, you can use the Tone panel to fine-tune the color results.

As you can see in the image below, the skirt’s color has been altered without changing any of the background colors.

That is how you change a color range using Color Range Mask. You can use these editing tricks to create some awe-inspiring photography.

If you liked this tutorial, you will definitely enjoy – 16 Surprising Lightroom Tips and Tricks You Don’t Know.

It’s also a great time to point out that Adobe Lightroom is a work in progress with regular updates and improvements.

The recent Adobe MAX Update 2024 further enhances Lightroom’s powerful editing and workflow management toolkit.

Generative Remove has received a significant power boost to simplify identifying an unwanted distraction. It uses AI-powered learning to cleanly remove the item and correctly render the vacant space.

Have fun editing, and let us know if you use any other techniques to change a color range.

• More: How to Manually Create a ‘Warm Contrast’ Effect in Lightroom

FAQ

How do I change the color of a specific area in Lightroom?

To change the color of a specific area in Lightroom, you can use the HSL/Color editing panel.

When the HSL/Color editing panel opens, click Hue at the top. Slide one of the color sliders to change this color’s hue.

Next, click Saturation and Luminance to alter the color’s luminance and saturation.

What does color range do in Lightroom?

Color range masks add a mask to a chosen color in Lightroom.

Using an eyedropper, you can select a color and apply a mask to this color range.

When the mask is active, you can alter the color range’s hue, luminance and saturation.

How do I select a range in Lightroom?

To select a color range in Lightroom, open the Masking panel.

Hit the Range button at the bottom of the Masking panel and select Color Range from the menu.

An eyedropper will appear. Using the eyedropper, you can select a color range by clicking on a colored area in the photo.

How do I change color grading in Lightroom?

To change color grading in Lightroom, open the image in Lightroom’s develop module and select Color Grading.

Using the Color Grading editing panel, you can change the image’s color grading.