How to Use Hue/Saturation in Photoshop

Use a Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer, Not the Adjustment

Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation applies the change permanently to the current layer. Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Hue/Saturation creates its own layer that affects everything beneath it, can be toggled off, re-edited or masked, and never damages your original. Use the Hue/Saturation adjustment layer.

Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer Sliders: Hue, Saturation and Lightness

Hue rotates colors around the color wheel – red becomes orange, green becomes blue. Saturation controls how much color is present; drag it all the way down for black and white. Lightness brightens or darkens. On their own these three affect every color in the frame.

Colorize

Check Colorize on the Hue/Saturation adjustment layer and the three sliders stop shifting existing colors and instead wash the whole image in a single tone you dial in. A low-saturation blue gives a cool duotone; warm it up and you have a sepia look.

Targeting a Specific Color with the Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer

Click the Master dropdown on the Hue/Saturation adjustment layer and choose a color family – Reds, for example, to work on a red bridge. Then click the eyedropper and click that exact color in the image so Photoshop knows precisely what you mean. The two-bar color strip at the bottom of the panel now becomes active: the top bar is the original range, the bottom is what it becomes. The inner markers define what is fully affected and the outer ones control the feathering into neighboring colors. Narrow the range if too much of the image is changing, or slide it left and right to grab a different color entirely. Use the plus eyedropper to add a second color to the selection.

The On-Image Hand

The Hue/Saturation adjustment layer’s small hand icon lets you click directly on any color in the photo and drag left or right to lower or raise its saturation – no menus, no eyedroppers. It is often the fastest way to tame one over-saturated area.

Working With Masks

Every Hue/Saturation adjustment layer carries a mask. If a color shift catches something you wanted to leave alone, select the mask, press B and paint with black to hide the effect there. You can also go the other direction: make a selection first with Select > Color Range, then create the adjustment layer and the selection loads straight into its mask – handy when you want to Colorize just one object.

Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer Quick Reference

• Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Hue/Saturation
• Master dropdown + eyedropper – target one specific color
• Inner range markers = fully affected, outer markers = feathering
• Plus eyedropper – add another color to the target range
• Colorize – wash the whole image in a single tone
• Paint black on the mask to hide the effect where you do not want it