Learn how to create a unique artistic effect by combining a portrait with splatter effects in Photoshop. This technique adds depth to the image and produces an impressive outcome that cannot be achieved with simple blend modes.

1. Preparing the image and splatter effect:
Start by selecting a suitable portrait and a high-quality splatter effect. Adobe Stock is a great resource for finding appropriate splatter effects. Download the effect and import it into Photoshop.

2. Understanding blending modes:
The blending mode is essential when working with multiple layers in Photoshop. While the ‘multiply’ blending mode can provide interesting results, it may not produce the desired colors or opacity. To achieve a more controlled effect, we’ll use the ‘normal’ blending mode.

3. Utilizing channels for selections:
Channels are powerful tools for making precise selections in Photoshop. They enable you to select specific areas based on the intensity of color information in the image. To work with channels, open the Channels panel by going to Window > Channels.

4. Selecting the appropriate channel:
The goal is to select the channel that contains the most information. In our case, the green channel provides the best result. To create a selection based on the green channel, either hold control/command and click on the thumbnail or use the selection icon.

5. Creating a new layer:
Return to the Layers panel and create a new layer. The selection made using the green channel selects the lighter areas of the image. Invert the selection by going to Select & Inverse to select the darker areas instead.

6. Filling the selection with color:
Create another new layer, and then go to Edit > Fill. Choose ‘color’ for the Contents, and use the color picker’s eyedropper tool to pick the desired color from the background.

7. Utilizing the splatter effect:
The filled selection now has transparency built into it, which adds depth to the image. Make the subject visible again, and position the splatter effects over them. Duplicate the splatter layer as needed to create multiple effects. Use a layer mask to selectively hide or reveal parts of the splatter effect, ensuring that it doesn’t obscure essential features of the subject.

8. Refining the effect:
To further enhance the final result, you can experiment with layer styles such as ‘inner glow’ or ‘drop shadow.’ Additionally, you can adjust the hue, saturation, and brightness of the splatter effect using adjustment layers. Finally, consider experimenting with different blending modes to achieve a variety of interesting results.

This technique is versatile and can be applied to various projects, including digital art, graphic design, and photography.

The New Color Grading in Lightroom Classic

Released in 2020, the relatively new Color Grading Tool promises to make the process of color grading quicker and easier without losing the control we need for a professional result.

Follow along as we explore the Color Grading Tool in Lightroom Classic, and use it to color grade an entire collection of images in just a few minutes.

Breaking Down the Color Grading Tool

Import the collection of images provided with the link above, or feel free to use a collection of your own.

Once the images are loaded into Lightroom, open the Develop module, and then open the Color Grading tab.

We’ve talked about color and lightness, but what about saturation? If you want to adjust the saturation of a range, hold SHIFT as you move the cursor within a color wheel.

Once opened, the Color Grading Tool gives us a handful of ways that we can target and adjust the colors in an image.

We can choose to make targeted adjustments, focusing specifically on the highlights, midtones, or shadows in the image.

We can make global adjustments, which will affect the entire photo as a whole. This option is faster, but we sacrifice a lot of control. If you’ve got the time, we recommend sticking with the other adjustment options.

Lastly, there’s the 3-Way adjustment option which allows us to make color adjustments across the highlights, midtones, and shadows with control of each. This is our preferred method, so let’s take a closer look at what it can do.

Notice the 3 color controls for the midtones, shadows, and highlights. These allow you to adjust both the color and the lightness for each range.

While you’re experimenting with color options, you can hold ALT or OPTN to toggle reset options for any one of the color wheels, or for the entire Color Grading Tool. This is great, as it allows you to test out a variety of coloring while being able to quickly undo a change at any point.

If you want a little more control as you move your cursor around a color wheel, holding ALT or OPTN as you drag will decrease the sensitivity of the cursor, allowing you to make finer adjustments.

Coloring a Collection with Sync Settings

If you’re working with a series of similar images from a photoshop, you may want to apply a similar look to every photograph.

The Sync Settings feature in Lightroom makes this process quick and easy.

Back in the Library module, select the image that you’ve color graded.

Then, hit CTRL or CMD + A to select all of the other images that you’ve imported.

Near the bottom right of the screen, click on the Sync Settings button. The Sync Settings dialog will open.

This dialog allows us to choose which adjustments that we want to copy from our main image to every other image that we’ve selected.

Click the Check None button to start from scratch.

Since we only used the Color Grading Tool to make our adjustments, we only need to check the box for Color Grading from the list.

Click Synchronize, and Lightroom will copy those exact adjustments from the Color Grading Tool to every other image selected.

Best of all, you can click on any image, open the Develop module, and then make more adjustments using the Color Grading Tool to give each image a more customized look.

The Basics of Changing Colors in Photoshop

Being able to realistically change the color of something in Photoshop is an essential skill, especially when working with images of clothing, fashion, or products. Fortunately, the tools and techniques you’ll need to work with color are easy to use and master.

Using basic selections, Layer Masks, and Hue/Saturation and Curves Adjustment Layers, you’ll be able to change the color of anything in a matter of minutes.

Making a Selection

Like many other Photoshop techniques, the color change workflow starts with a selection. Selections allow us to do a number of things, like target a specific area or object in a photo that we want to edit.

Since we’re trying to change the color of the subject’s clothing, we need to make a selection of the clothing so that we can change the color without affecting anything else in the image.

There are a ton of ways to make selections in Photoshop–some are quick and easy, and others require a little more time and attention. Since the image we’re working with has a relatively simple background, we’re going to focus on the quicker, automated tools to get the job done.

Keep in mind that selections (and Layer Masks) are things that evolve and change throughout an edit. As you’ll see later, an original selection might need to be refined later in the editing process as we notice areas that the quick selection tools might have missed.

To create a quick, initial selection, open the Select menu and choose the Subject option. Photoshop will try to automatically identify and create a selection around the main subject in the photo.

With this particular image, Select Subject does a nice job of accurately identifying the subject and selecting them. Since we’re only trying to edit the clothing, we’ll eventually need to remove the subject’s face, skin, and hair from the selection, but that will be easier once we’ve converted the selection into a Layer Mask.

Creating a Layer Mask from a Selection

Now that we have an active selection, it’s easy to turn it into a Layer Mask. Since we’re focusing on color change, the main tool we’ll be using is a Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer. Whenever you have an active selection while creating a new Adjustment Layer, Photoshop automatically loads that selection as the Layer Mask of the Adjustment Layer.

With the selection active, simply create a new Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer above the image in the Layers Panel. Photoshop will apply the selection to the Layer Mask.

We’re just about ready to start adjusting the color of the clothing, but first we need to remove the subject’s face, skin, and hair from the Layer Mask so that they’re not affected by the Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer.

Refining the Layer Mask

Layer Masks are very easy to edit and refine over time. The most important thing to remember is that a Layer Mask simply defines where its associated Layer will be visible. White means that that part of the Layer will be visible (in this case, the subject), and black means that that part of the Layer will be invisible (in this case, the background).

Since we want to isolate the clothing, only the clothing should appear in white on the Layer Mask.

Try using the Quick Selection Tool to select the subject’s face and hair. Once you have an active selection, click on the Layer Mask of the Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer, and then fill the selection with black by opening the Edit menu and clicking on the Fill option.

Repeat this process for any other areas of the subject’s skin and hair.

Once you’re done, only the clothing should be visible in white on the Layer Mask.

Changing the Color

Now that the clothing is separated from the rest of the image, we’re ready to adjust the color! In many cases, a single Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer will do the trick, but occasionally an additional Curves Adjustment Layer can help bring back detail in the highlights and shadows (most useful when changing the color to black or white). Since it’s handy to have a Curves Adjustment available, let’s set the project up so that we can use both.

We’re going to need the same Layer Mask for both the Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer and for the Curves Adjustment Layer.

The easiest way to do this, and stay organized, is to put the Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer into a Group by selecting it and then hitting CTRL or CMD + G.

Then click and drag the Layer Mask we created up to the Group. Now everything we place into this Group will be defined by the Layer Mask of the Group.

Create a Curves Adjustment Layer and place it into the Group with the Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer.

Working with Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layers

To change the color of the clothing, double-click on the Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer to open the dialog.

Make sure to check the Colorize box just below the three main sliders. Then adjust the sliders to change the color of the clothing!

While changing the color, you may notice other areas you might have missed while creating the selection and Layer Mask. You can use a variety of selection tools, or just the Brush Tool set to black or white, to further refine the Layer Mask.

Changing the Color to Black or White

Our initial color change turned the clothing from lavender to green, which was pretty easy. But what if we wanted to change the clothing to black or white?

Changing the color of something to black or white can be tricky as it’s easy to lose important details in texture or in the highlight and shadow information.

That’s where the Curves Adjustment Layer can help. For example, let’s try changing the color to black.

Drag the Saturation slider all the way to the left. Then, drag the Lightness slider in the Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer dialog to near black. Don’t drag it all the way to the left, as you will lose almost all of the detail you’ll need to make it look realistic.

Then, double-click on the Curves Adjustment Layer dialog. Make the darks a little bit darker, and the highlights a little bit brighter. This will help to recover some of the original highlight and shadow information, creating a much more realistic effect.

You can follow the same steps if you want to change the color to white. The only difference being that you want to reverse the Curves adjustments, instead making the highlights a little bit darker and the shadows a bit brighter.

Change the Color of Anything in Photoshop

Photoshop makes it fairly easy to select particular colors, or even objects, in a photograph and make change to the hue, saturation or brightness.

And changing the colors of plants and flowers is a great way to add more visual interest to an image or just to create an eye-catching effect.

Let’s see what we can do with the plant and flowers in this photo to make the image a littler darker and more dramatic.

Changing Colors with Hue/Saturation

We have some great courses on the power of Adjustment Layers in Photoshop and, if you want to master these useful tools, the Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer is a great place to start.

You can add Adjustment Layers to the Layer Stack vie the Layer menu at the top of the screen. Hover over New Adjustment Layer and a list will appear with all of the available options.

Since we want to focus on changing the colors in our image, create a Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer. Once selected, the Hue/Saturation Adjustment dialog will appear. This dialog provides a number of options to both select and change any color in a photo.

Let’s begin by changing the colors of leaves. The easiest way to do this is by selecting the greens in the image. Click on the drop-down box that’s currently set to Master, and then change it to Greens.

Then, for even more precision, you can use the eyedropper tools to select the specific hues of green that you want to adjust.

Once the colors you want to adjust have been selected, move the Hue, Saturation, and Lightness sliders to the left and right to see how those changes affect the image.

We chose to change the green leaves to be more of a dark blue/purple color.

We’ll move on to change the color of the flowers in a moment, but first we need to take care of some spots that the Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer missed.

Refining Hue/Saturation Adjustments

While the selection tools within the Hue/Saturation Adjustments are very helpful, they won’t always provide a perfect result.

Zooming in, notice that some small areas, like flower stems, were missed by our original selections.

Fortunately, this is a pretty simple fix and we have a few options as to how we approach it.

One method is to simply double-click on Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer to open the settings window, and then adjust the feathering of the effect using the slider at the bottom of the panel.

By increasing the feathering, the Adjustment will expand out to affect a wider range of hues.

While this can sometimes solve the problem, it didn’t do very much for us in this particular example.

Another more manual approach is to create a new Layer, select the Brush Tool, Sample a color from the surrounding area (hold ALT or OPTN and click on any color to sample it), and then paint over the spot that we want to change to the sampled color.

Select the Layer that you painted on, locate the Blending Mode options at the top of the Layer Panel, and change the Blending Mode to Color.

Notice that Photoshop used the color of where we painted to change the color of the photo information below it.

We’re done with the leaves, now let’s try and change the color of the flowers to complete our new look!

Changing Multiple Colors

Since we’re changing the color of multiple objects in the image, we’re going to need multiple Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layers to finish the job.

Using the same process as when we started, created a new Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer on top of the Layer Stack.

Since our goal is to change the color of the flowers, choose Yellows from the drop-down box in the Hue/Saturation dialog.

We chose to go with a pretty saturated red to make the image a little more dramatic. But there’s an issue.

Notice that the new adjustment affected the skin tone of the subject. This is a pretty common issue when working with images of people. Any time you adjust reds, oranges, or yellows–any warm color tones–you’re going to end up changing the skin tones of any people in your photo.

As long as you know to look out for this issue, it’s another easy fix.

Simply Group all of the Hue/Saturation Adjustments together by selection all of them and hitting CTRL or CMD + G. Add a Layer Mask to the Group and, using a soft, round brush, use the Brush Tool to paint with black on Layer Mask over the subject and their skin.

This will remove any color changes from affecting the colors in the subject’s skin, hair, and clothing.

You should end up with plants and flowers appearing in the colors that you chose, and a subject that looks perfectly natural.

Changing Colors in Photoshop

Creating a more cohesive color palette in an image can make for a more pleasing and impactful photograph. Take, for example, a photo of colorful clothing in front of an equally colorful background.

The colors are what make this image pop, but what if we could take it a step further and match the color of the subject’s clothing to more closely match the mural in the background? Let’s give it as try!

Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layers

We often talk about the power of Adjustment Layers in Photoshop. And when you want to change the color of anything, there’s no better tool than the Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer.

Create a Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer above the background image. Notice that there are a variety of tools that allow us to define color ranges that we want to affect.

In this particular example, we want to change the color of the subject’s shirt to more of teal color to match the circles in the background.

Using the top drop-down box, we can select Blues to try and target the blue colors in the shirt.

Once you’ve finished defining the Layer Mask, you’re done! You’ve successfully changed the color of the clothing so that it better matches the background.

But we’re not quite done. Let’s take a look at another technique that uses the Brush Tool to remove some bright colors that might be a little too distracting.

Color Change with the Brush Tool

Now when we move the Hue Slider, the blues in the subject’s clothing change. But you’ll also notice that the background colors change as well. Don’t worry too much about this, as we can use a Layer Mask to prevent the Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer from affecting areas that we don’t want it to.

Fill the Layer Mask of the Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer with black, and then use the Brush Tool to paint white on the Layer Mask where you want the color change to appear–in our case, the subject’s shirt.

The Brush Tool & Blending Modes

You can also change the color of almost anything in a photo by simply painting with the Brush Tool and using Blending Modes to affect the color.

Sample a teal color from the background and, on a new Layer, paint over a small area of the subject’s bright yellow socks. We’ve got the color we want, but not the effect–it clearly looks like we just painted over the fabric.

To refine the effect, we’ll first need to make a fairly accurate selection of the areas we want to affect. Since we’re targeting the only bright yellow objects in the image, Select Color Range is the perfect tool for the job.

Once you’ve got a selection of the yellow socks, go back to painting over them with that sampled teal color.

Change the Blending Mode of that painted Layer to Color, and you’re good to go!

You should be left with clothing that more closely matches the background, and a more cohesive color palette overall!

Neural Filters in Photoshop

Colorize is one of the latest features introduced to Photoshop’s growing suite of Neural Filters. Powered by machine learning with Adobe Sensei, Neural Filters help to take otherwise complicated workflows and simplify them to just a few clicks.

You can find the Neural Filters under the Filter Menu.

Since many of the Neural Filters are still works on progress, most are located under the Beta Filters tab. Each Filter can be downloaded locally to use at any time, but some require an active network connection as they utilize cloud-based services. Depth-Aware Haze is one such Filter, so make sure that you’re connected to the internet if you want to give it a try.

The Colorize Neural Filter

One of the most commonly requested tutorials we get is how to colorize black and white images in Photoshop. While we do cover it in How to Restore Old & Vintage Photos, the manual process can be time consuming and involve a lot of trial and error.

The Colorize Neural Filter promises to make this complicated workflow as easy as a few clicks.

By simply toggling the Colorize Filter, any black and white photo will be instantly colorized.

However, there are several options and sliders that can help dial in the exact look and colors you want. You can use the sliders to adjust the overall amount of cyans, reds, blues, yellows, magentas, and greens in an image. This is especially helpful if you’re working with a portrait and you want to make sure that skin tones look warm and natural.

Focus Points

Since the Colorize Neural Filter is using A.I. to identify what colors should be present in the image, it might not always hit the mark. But the Focus Point feature can help!

You can select multiple Focus Points in a photo and assign a color to each.

We attempted to use a Focus Point to color the rose in our example photo, but Photoshop had some trouble differentiating the rose from the background. You can try to use multiple Focus Points to dial the right colors in, but we found this feature to be hit or miss.

We recommend using the general adjustments for now and then, if you do want to make further changes to the colors, to combine the Colorize Filter with other Adjustment Layers.

Output the Colorize Filter

Like the other Neural Filters, you can choose how you want to output the effect. This will largely depend on your own preferences and workflow, but we would suggest not outputting the effect to the Current Layer. This will affect the original image and make things difficult, or impossible, to go back and fix later on.

Once the effect is applied, you can continue to edit an image normally using any of the hundreds of tools available in Photoshop.

Since the focus is on color, you might want to use Hue/Saturation or Color Balance Adjustment Layers along with Layer Masks to dial in the exact look you want.

Wait… Video? In Photoshop?

It sounds crazy, we know, but Photoshop has a lot of surprising features that support video editing. While we still recommend sticking with programs like Adobe Premiere for major cutting and editing, Photoshop is a viable option when you want to add some quick color grading to your footage.

Loading a video in Photoshop is just as easy as opening an image. Simple drag and drop the video file into the work area or use the File Menu to open the video from the directory. Once the video is loaded, it will appear as a normal Layer within a Video Group.

Edit Video with Adjustment Layers

When it comes to color grading in Photoshop, Adjustment Layers are the best tools to quickly create a wide variety of looks. And using Adjustment Layers on videos is exactly the same as using them on still images. Create an Adjustment Layer of your choice, make sure that it’s above the video in the Layers Panel, and adjust the settings until you achieve the look you want.

Like images, you can use any number of Adjustment Layers you want to dial in the perfect color grade.

Using LUTs in Photoshop

LUTs are a type of Adjustment Layer in Photoshop that appear in the Adjustment Layer Menu as Color Lookup. While they may sound a little confusing, it’s easiest to think of LUTs as a combination of Adjustment Layers and settings combined into a particular look and then saved as a singular file. For example, you could create a dark and moody look using a dozen different Adjustment Layers, and then save those adjustments out as an LUT. Then, if you wanted to apply that same look to another image, simply load the LUT file and it will apply of the adjustments necessary to create it.

We have a ton of LUTs available in our PRO library and we continue to add new looks every week! But if you want to get started right away, and if you’re not a PHLEARN PRO member, you can grab our free sample pack! Simply import the LUTs using the Color Lookup dialog, and then you can add them to your photos and videos in just a few clicks.

LUTs make the process of applying complex looks much easier and they can help you create a more consistent look across any number of video clips.

Export Videos in Photoshop

Once the look is applied, you’ll want to export the clip with the new color grade. Navigate to the File Menu, open the Export Menu, and select Render Video.

Adjust the export settings to what you need, click Render, and then give Photoshop some time to do the work.

You’ll end up with a new video file with your beautiful coloring applied.

Getting Started with Dark & Moody Coloring

Before you can start creating a certain style using the color grading tools in Photoshop, you need to make sure you’re pairing that style with the right image. We’re going for a look that’s dark and mysterious, so it should go without saying that a photo of bright and sunny portrait might be a tough sell.

In our example, one of the images seems to fit the style we’re going for perfectly and the other, while still a great photo, does not.

Before color grading any photo, it always helps to sit back and take a long hard look at an image. Study it and ask yourself some questions. What is the lighting and color like in the scene? What sort of style would enhance the mood that the photo already evokes? Answering questions like these will help you determine a color grade that will ultimately elevate the feelings that are already present in an image.

What Makes Dark & Moody so Dark & Moody?

So what sort of things should you look for to determine if a photo would benefit from dark and moody color grading? Well, it certainly helps if the image is already on the darker side. Images with a lot of shadow and only splashes of light usually works great for this sort of style. We’re going to end up enhancing any contrast so natural contrast in the original image helps.

Taking the content of the scene into consideration, look for subjects that aren’t happy and smiling at the camera. If a subject’s face and expression are hidden, whether in shadow or they’re turned away from the camera, it adds an extra sense of mystery to a scene. And those feelings can be enhanced using color grading tools in Photoshop.

Coloring with Curves

Color grading doesn’t have to involve a ton of tools and adjustments to get the look you want. And oftentimes a single tool is all you’ll need to get the job done. So what’s are do-it-all trick to getting a dark and moody look in Photoshop? Curves!

Curves is a powerful Adjustment Layer that checks a lot of boxes in the editor’s workflow. Exposure adjustments? Check. Coloring? Check. Non-destructive? Check. And the list goes on. How does it manage to do so much? Let’s take a look.

Working Curves Adjustment Layers

You can create a Curves Adjustment Layer by opening the Layer menu, hovering over New Adjustment Layer, and selecting Curves.

The Curves dialog will open and Photoshop will place a Curves Adjustment Layer in the Layers Panel above the background image. While it might look daunting at first, Curves are pretty easy to use once you understand the information they provide and allow you to edit. At the heart of the Curves dialog is a histogram–a chart of the lighting and color information in the image.

The histogram displays information from left to right, or from pure black values through pure values white respectively. Looking at the histogram for our example image, we can see that the majority of the information in the photo sits on the darker side of the spectrum. Running through the histogram diagonally from the lower left to the top right is a line that we can add points to and move to make parts of the image lighter or darker or even adjust colors.

For example, if you create a point near the bottom left corner of the line and drag it lower, it will take those dark shadowy areas and make them even darker. Conversely, if you create a point near the top right of the line and move it up, the highlights in the image will get brighter.

To enhance the dark and moody qualities of the image, this is exactly what we want to start out with. By making the darks darker and the highlights a little brighter, we can carefully increase the overall contrast of the image to get the effect that we want.

But Curves can do more than just change highlight and shadow levels. Clicking on the drop-down box near the top of the dialog that says RGB, you’ll see a list of the different individual color channels.

By selecting each channel and going through a similar process as we did when adjusting the highlight and shadow levels, we can introduce more or less of each color into the highlights and shadows of the image.

If you select the Red Channel, create a point near the top right, and then move it up, you’ll add more reds into the highlights of the image. In this case that’s exactly what we want since it will make sure the subject’s skin tones, which are in highlight areas, will stay warm and natural. If you were to move the red point down, it would reduce the reds in that area and add complementary cyan coloring.

All that’s left to do is to go through each color channel and make subtle adjustments, pushing and pulling color values until you get a dark and moody vibe that you like.

What is Duotone Coloring?

Duotone coloring is a popular style that involves simplifying the colors in an image down to only two hues; one hue present in the highlights, and another in the shadows.