To change a specific color in Lightroom Classic, the most common method involves using the HSL/Color panel found within the Develop module.
Changing Specific Colors in Lightroom Classic
Lightroom Classic provides powerful tools to adjust individual color ranges in your photos. The primary tool for this is the HSL/Color panel.
Using the Hue Sliders
The Hue sliders allow you to shift the shade or type of a specific color in your image. For instance, you can make reds appear more orange or more magenta, or turn greens towards yellow or aqua.
Here’s how to change a color using the Hue sliders:
- Enter the Develop Module: Open the image you want to edit and switch from the Library module to the Develop module.
- Locate the HSL / Color Panel: On the right-hand side panel, scroll down until you find the HSL / Color panel. This panel often appears after the Basic, Tone Curve, and HSL/Color Grading panels.
- Select the "Hue" Tab: Within the HSL / Color panel, you will see tabs for HSL and Color Mixer. Ensure the HSL tab is selected. Then, make sure the Hue radio button (or tab, depending on your version/view setting) is selected.
- Adjust the Specific Color Slider: You will see a list of color sliders (e.g., Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Aqua, Blue, Purple, Magenta). Find the slider corresponding to the color you want to change.
- As demonstrated in some tutorials, once the hue tab is selected, if you wanted to change a color like red, for example, you can click and drag the red slider to the left or to the right.
- Observe the Change: As you drag the slider, the hue of that specific color range in your image will change. Dragging left shifts the color towards the left end of the spectrum for that range (e.g., Red towards Magenta), while dragging right shifts it towards the right (e.g., Red towards Orange).
- Pro Tip: You can also use the Targeted Adjustment Tool within the HSL panel. Click the small circular icon at the top left of the HSL panel, select "Hue" from the dropdown, then click directly on the color in your image you want to change and drag your mouse up or down. Lightroom will automatically adjust the relevant color slider(s) for you.
Understanding HSL (Hue, Saturation, Luminance)
The HSL panel provides control over three aspects of specific color ranges:
- Hue: The actual color itself (e.g., Red, Green, Blue). This is what you adjust to change a red object to orange, for example.
- Saturation: The intensity or purity of the color. Dragging a slider to the right increases the color's vibrancy, while dragging left decreases it towards gray.
- Luminance: The brightness or darkness of the color. Dragging a slider right makes that color range brighter, while dragging left makes it darker.
By using the Hue, Saturation, and Luminance sliders together, you gain precise control over how different colors appear in your photographs.
