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How to Use the Color Replacement Tool in Photoshop

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Wondering how to use the color replacement tool in Photoshop? In this tutorial, you'll learn how to color replace in Photoshop.

What You'll Learn in This Color Replacement Tool Photoshop Tutorial

  • Where is the Color Replacement Tool in Photoshop?
  • Color Replacement Tool Photoshop settings
  • How to use the Color Replacement Brush

What You'll Need

Before we get into the Photoshop color replacement tool, you can download these assets that were used during the production of this tutorial:

1. Where Is the Color Replacement Brush in Photoshop?

Step 1

Let's start learning how to replace color in Photoshop. You can replace colors in Photoshop with the Color Replacement Brush, which can be found in the Tools panel.

where is the color replacement tool in photoshopwhere is the color replacement tool in photoshopwhere is the color replacement tool in photoshop

Step 2

If you don't see the Photoshop Color Replacement Tool in this panel, press the Edit Toolbar icon and select it here.

where is the color replacement tool in photoshopwhere is the color replacement tool in photoshopwhere is the color replacement tool in photoshop

2. Color Replacement Tool Photoshop Settings

Step 1

Before using the Color Replacement Tool in Photoshop, you need to open the image and select the color which you would like to use.

selecting the color selecting the color selecting the color

Step 2

Now you can set the Size, Hardness, and Spacing of your brush.

setting up color replacement brushsetting up color replacement brushsetting up color replacement brush

Step 3

After that, you can select one of the Blending Modes: Color, Hue, Saturation, or Luminosity. The Color mode is a default setting which will change both the hue and the saturation. Hue settings will only affect the hue, Saturation will only affect the saturation, and the Luminosity will simply match the brightness of the original color to the brightness of the new color, while hue and saturation will be unaffected.

If you want to use Photoshop to replace one color with another, you should select Color, and in most cases this will be your best choice. 

selecting the blending mode of the color replacement brushselecting the blending mode of the color replacement brushselecting the blending mode of the color replacement brush

Want to see some examples of how to replace color in Photoshop? Take a look at some examples of using Photoshop to replace a color with brush blend modes below:

color replacement tool blending modescolor replacement tool blending modescolor replacement tool blending modes

Step 4

The next setting is Sampling, and you can choose from three options: Continuous, Once, and Background Swatch.

Continuous Sampling will always look for the color you're painting over, Once Sampling will follow the color from the initial point of your brush, and Background Swatch will only paint over the areas that match your Background Color.

replacement tool painting modesreplacement tool painting modesreplacement tool painting modes

Step 5

The Limits setting controls the "spread" of the colors. This option sets the boundary up to which it can affect the color. 

  • Contiguous will affect only the sampled area of pixels where the crosshair of your brush is. It will not change the color of the adjacent areas that match the same color.
  • Discontiguous will change the color of the adjoining areas with a matching sampled color up to the spread of the crosshair boundaries.
  • Find Edges will find the edges in your image, and it will stop as it approaches the edge. The color change will affect only the edges.

In most cases, Contiguous will be the best option to use.

limit settingslimit settingslimit settings

Step 6

The Tolerance setting controls how similar the color will be to your sampled color.

tolerance settingstolerance settingstolerance settings

3. How to Use the Color Replacement Brush

So, to use Photoshop to replace one color with another, let's set the following settings:

  • Brush Size: 160
  • Mode: Color
  • Sampling: Continuous
  • Limits: Contiguous
  • Tolerance: 75%

After that, just paint over the areas where you want to change the color of your image.

changing the color with anotherchanging the color with anotherchanging the color with another

Did you enjoy this Photoshop colorization tutorial? Now you know how to use the color replacement tool in Photoshop! 

Awesome Work!

Today you've learned how to use the color replacement tool in Photoshop. It can be a very handy tool for different purposes.

It's pretty easy to use Photoshop to replace a color with another. Keep experimenting with how you use the color replacement tool in Photoshop.

Want to learn more about Photoshop tools? Check out these Photoshop tutorials from Envato Tuts+: