Adjusting Individual Colors Using HSL Color Tuning


Since Lightroom doesn't have selection tools (like Adobe Photoshop has), how do you tweak or change just one individual color? You do it using the HSL Color Tuning panel, which lets you adjust individual colors within your image. This is great for removing obvious color casts, repairing skin tone problems, or just changing the color of an object within your photo. Don't let all the sliders throw you offthis is easy stuff.

Step One

We'll start with one of the most useful things about HSL Color Tuning, and that's the ability to fix photos where the skin tone is too red. In the shot shown here, the model is oversaturated with red, so in the Develop module scroll down to the HSL Color Tuning panel on the right. There are three sets of sliders: the Hue sliders let you adjust the hue range of each individual color, the Saturation sliders let you control how vivid the color is, and the Luminance sliders control the overall lightness of each color.

©ISTOCKPHOTO

Step Two

Since what we want to do is lower the intensity of the red in the photo, just go to the Saturation sliders, and drag the Reds slider a little bit to the left. Moving just this one slider lowers the saturation of just the reds, and instantly gives her a more natural skin tone. If you had too much yellow in a photo, you'd do this same thinggo straight to the Saturation sliders and drag the Yellows slider to the left. If a photo with a blue sky needs to be bluer, go to the Blues (and Cyans) Saturation slider and drag it to the right.

Step Three

Another area where HSL Color Tuning comes in handy is changing the color of individual objects. This is especially helpful because Lightroom doesn't have a set of selection tools (like Photoshop does). For example, let's say you want to change the color of the stripes on the blanket the baby is lying on. By the way, that's not just a baby, that's SuperBaby 2.0my little daughter, Kira Nicole, and that's her big brother Jordan watching over her just after her birth. Now, back to our story. So, we want to change the color of the cyan stripes on the blanket without disturbing the rest of the color in the image. This is when you'd use the Hue sliders in the HSL Color Tuning panel.

©SCOTT KELBY

Step Four

Since the blanket is light blue (almost cyan), to change the hue of the cyan in the photo, you'd go under the Hue sliders and drag the Cyans slider either to the left (toward green) or to the right (toward blue). Look at the color bar that appears within each slider and you'll see which color you'll get when you drag the slider. If you want the stripes to look more purple, just look at the Blues Hue slider. If you drag the Blues slider to the right (as shown here), now the Blues in the stripes turn purple. It's easy if you remember to look at the photo for the color you want to adjust, then look at the color bars in the Hue section. The Luminance sliders control the lightness of each color, so if you want a color darker or lighter, this is the place to go (again, look at the color gradient on the sliders for clues).



The Adobe Lightroom eBook for Digital Photographers
The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 Book for Digital Photographers
ISBN: B001FA0MWK
EAN: N/A
Year: 2006
Pages: 71
Authors: Scott Kelby

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