p.1 #1 · change colour of masked object TO a selected colour?
I have a photo where there is an area of the image I would like to change to have the same colour as another area. I have tried masking the area I want to change, using the Point Color eye dropper to select the FROM colour and then play with the Hue slider but I can't get anywhere close to the same colour as the TO colour I want. Is there a way that I can use the/a eye dropper to select the TO colour and somehow apply that to the masked area? Or some other way?
p.1 #2 · change colour of masked object TO a selected colour?
EverLearning wrote:
I have a photo where there is an area of the image I would like to change to have the same colour as another area. I have tried masking the area I want to change, using the Point Color eye dropper to select the FROM colour and then play with the Hue slider but I can't get anywhere close to the same colour as the TO colour I want. Is there a way that I can use the/a eye dropper to select the TO colour and somehow apply that to the masked area? Or some other way?
p.1 #4 · change colour of masked object TO a selected colour?
Hi @EverLearning
You have a good question. I often use PS and ACR/ PS Camera Raw Filter.
After trying it myself and searching online, I did not find a great way to get a good, easy, perfect match with LR. It ended up being iterative and a bit frustrating as the targeted color tool in LR has a limited range of what it can handle.
There are easy ways to do this in Photoshop yet if LR is you main tool, that would take a roundtrip to PS.
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Here is an online summary of tips on how to do it in LR (I have few more suggestions too):
✔️ Step 1 — Create a mask over the area you want to recolor
Brush or Object Select works well.
✔️ Step 2 — Hover over the source color (the color you want to copy)
Look at the RGB readout in the Histogram
Write them down or memorize approximate values
(e.g., R=88, G=92, B=150)
✔️ Step 3 — Apply Point Color (or HSL) to the masked area
Sample the target color with the Point Color eyedropper
Expand Hue/Sat/Lum ranges
Increase Amount
Adjust Hue/Sat/Lum sliders until the color moves into the right ballpark
✔️ Step 4 — Now hover over the destination (masked) area
Compare its RGB values to your target color’s RGB.
✔️ Step 5 — Adjust mask sliders again
Repeat until it's close enough.
🟡 How to greatly reduce the “back and forth” hover cycle
✔️ Trick 1 — Use Soft Proofing (press S) for much more stable RGB values
This locks the histogram into a fixed profile mode, so readings don’t jump around much.
✔️ Trick 2 — Use the Targeted Adjustment Tool (TAT)
This makes hovering more stable:
Open HSL panel
Click the bullseye tool
Click AND HOLD on the target area
Drag up/down
While holding, the cursor is fixed, and you can still see RGB readouts.
This behaves like a “semi-pinned sampler.”
✔️ Trick 3 — Zoom to 100%
This stabilizes the histogram because LR uses a real-pixel preview (no interpolation).
---------------------------------------------------------
One key trick is to get the target masked area close before using the point color tool.
I also have the histogram show in Lab mode colors instead of RGB. It's easier for me to tune it in to get the right color with Hue/Sat, then adjust brightness.
Personally, the best it does in LR is hobble around, yet I hope the above tips/process help if you must stick with LR only.
John Wheeler
p.1 #5 · change colour of masked object TO a selected colour?
John Wheeler wrote:
Hi @EverLearning@
You have a good question. I often use PS and ACR/ PS Camera Raw Filter.
After trying it myself and searching online, I did not find a great way to get a good, easy, perfect match with LR. It ended up being iterative and a bit frustrating as the targeted color tool in LR has a limited range of what it can handle.
There are easy ways to do this in Photoshop yet if LR is you main tool, that would take a roundtrip to PS.
-------------------------------------------------------
Here is an online summary of tips on how to do it in LR (I have few more suggestions too):
✔️ Step 1 — Create a mask over the area you want to recolor
Brush or Object Select works well.
✔️ Step 2 — Hover over the source color (the color you want to copy)
Look at the RGB readout in the Histogram
Write them down or memorize approximate values
(e.g., R=88, G=92, B=150)
✔️ Step 3 — Apply Point Color (or HSL) to the masked area
Sample the target color with the Point Color eyedropper
Expand Hue/Sat/Lum ranges
Increase Amount
Adjust Hue/Sat/Lum sliders until the color moves into the right ballpark
✔️ Step 4 — Now hover over the destination (masked) area
Compare its RGB values to your target color’s RGB.
✔️ Step 5 — Adjust mask sliders again
Repeat until it's close enough.
🟡 How to greatly reduce the “back and forth” hover cycle
✔️ Trick 1 — Use Soft Proofing (press S) for much more stable RGB values
This locks the histogram into a fixed profile mode, so readings don’t jump around much.
✔️ Trick 2 — Use the Targeted Adjustment Tool (TAT)
This makes hovering more stable:
Open HSL panel
Click the bullseye tool
Click AND HOLD on the target area
Drag up/down
While holding, the cursor is fixed, and you can still see RGB readouts.
This behaves like a “semi-pinned sampler.”
✔️ Trick 3 — Zoom to 100%
This stabilizes the histogram because LR uses a real-pixel preview (no interpolation).
---------------------------------------------------------
One key trick is to get the target masked area close before using the point color tool.
I also have the histogram show in Lab mode colors instead of RGB. It's easier for me to tune it in to get the right color with Hue/Sat, then adjust brightness.
Personally, the best it does in LR is hobble around, yet I hope the above tips/process help if you must stick with LR only.
John Wheeler
p.1 #6 · change colour of masked object TO a selected colour?
EverLearning wrote:
Is there a way that I can use the/an eye dropper to select the TO colour and somehow apply that to the masked area? Or some other way?
Color blend mode in PS will force the color to what you specify, use it in combination with masks and solid color adjustment layer. But often I find some of the other color tools are often easier for me to achieve what I want (e.g. selective color, color balance, hue slider, color mixer, WB, LR color box in local adjustment, LR point color).
p.1 #7 · change colour of masked object TO a selected colour?
John, thank you for the detailed reply (and all the work you put in to testing various approaches). It sounds like one can get close to a colour match but very unlikely not get an exact colour match and in this particular case I need an exact colour match.
i am not strong with PS and with all the enhancements Adobe has made to LR, I can and generally do avoid going into PS, so I guess my PS skills have actually deteriorated with the passing of time. So, like dclark, I would be interested in what you do in PS to get an exact match.
p.1 #8 · change colour of masked object TO a selected colour?
EverLearning wrote:
John, thank you for the detailed reply (and all the work you put in to testing various approaches). It sounds like one can get close to a colour match but very unlikely not get an exact colour match and in this particular case I need an exact colour match.
i am not strong with PS and with all the enhancements Adobe has made to LR, I can and generally do avoid going into PS, so I guess my PS skills have actually deteriorated with the passing of time. So, like dclark, I would be interested in what you do in PS to get an exact match.
I believe @sbay covered the steps in their post. Here are the steps I took with visuals
Here is the starting image:
Using the magic want I selected the red areas
I create a new blank Layer above the original:
I convert the selection to a Layer Mask with the select to mask icon in the Layers Panel
With the magic wand too I sample the yellow in the mushroom base which will be applied to the red areas.
I select the pixel thumbnail and paste the color onto that blank Layer
Now all one has to do is change that top Layer to a Blend of Color. This preserves the Hue exactly and the Saturation as best as is possible with the constraint of the Luminosity of the Layer below:
That preseves the original Luminosity yet changes the Hue and Saturation to the sampled aea
