Adjusting hue/saturation

The Hue/Saturation tool allows you to make color adjustments in hue, saturation, or vibrance. All adjustments are relative.

The Vibrance slider is better than the Saturation slider when you want to adjust only the saturation of foliage, the sky, water, clothing, make-up (things that contain reds, greens, and blues), but leave the saturation of skin and earth tones largely unchanged.

For example, compare the photos below.

(a) original (b) vibrance +50 (c) saturation +50

In (b), the vibrance has been increased by 50 resulting in more vivid make-up, but with the hair and background largely unchanged. In (c), the saturation has been increased by 50 instead resulting in unnaturally vivid colors overall.

To adjust the hue/saturation of your photo:

  1. Click the hue/saturation tool button in the tool bar. (A new hue/saturation tool will appear at the top of the tool stack.)
  2. Use the sliders to make adjustments:

    • The Hue slider adjusts around the wheel.
    • The Saturation slider adjusts along the radius of the wheel from the center to the edge for all colors.
    • The Vibrance slider adjusts along the radius of the wheel from the center to the edge, but only for the primary colors of red, green, and blue.

  3. Optionally:

See also: