Select Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Hue/Saturation and then select OK.
Last updated on
Sep 30, 2026
Use adjustment layers to create dramatic visual effects, such as converting to grayscale, inverting colors, or mapping tones to gradients.
Photoshop offers five special color adjustments that create bold transformations: desaturation removes all color, inversion flips all tones, threshold creates stark black-and-white, posterize reduces images to flat color levels, and gradient map replaces tones with gradient colors.
These adjustments create distinct visual effects rather than subtle color refinements. Learn how to adjust color for hue, saturation, and lightness for standard color correction.
Use adjustment layers to preserve your original image. The Image > Adjustments menu permanently changes pixels and works best for temporary files.
Convert color to grayscale
Remove all color while keeping your current color mode. Desaturate assigns equal red, green, and blue values to each pixel based on its brightness.
In the Properties panel, drag the Saturation slider to -100.
For direct editing, select Image > Adjustments > Desaturate. This permanently converts the selected layer to grayscale.
Note
In multilayer images, Desaturate affects only the currently selected layer. To desaturate your entire composition, apply the adjustment to each layer or flatten the image first.
Invert image colors
Reverse all color values by converting each pixel's brightness to its opposite on the 0-255 scale. A pixel with a value of 255 becomes 0, while a value of 5 becomes 250. Use this to create negative effects or prepare images for edge detection workflows.
Select the Invert icon in the Adjustments panel, or select Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Invert.
Select OK.
For direct editing, select Image > Adjustments > Invert.
Alert
Invert can't accurately convert scanned color negatives to positives because color film includes an orange mask. Use your scanner's color negative settings instead.
Create high-contrast black and white images
The Threshold adjustment converts images to pure black and white by setting a luminance cutoff point. All pixels lighter than the threshold become white; all darker pixels become black. This creates stark, graphic effects ideal for line art or artistic treatments.
Select the Threshold icon in the Adjustments panel, or select Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Threshold and then select OK.
Threshold icon in the Adjustment panel
In the Properties panel, drag the slider below the histogram to set your threshold level.
Watch the image preview update as you drag to find the balance between black and white areas that works for your composition.
Note
For direct editing, select Image > Adjustments > Threshold.
Reduce an image to flat color levels
Reduce the number of brightness levels in each color channel to create bold, flat areas similar to screen-printed posters. Setting two levels in an RGB image yields 6 colors: 2 for each of red, green, and blue.
Select the Posterize icon in the Adjustments panel, or select Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Posterize and then select OK.
Posterize icon in the Adjustment panel
In the Properties panel, drag the Levels slider or enter a number to set how many tonal levels you want per channel.
For direct editing, select Image > Adjustments > Posterize.
Lower values (2-6 levels) create dramatic simplification. Higher values (8-15) produce subtler banding effects. This works dramatically in grayscale but creates interesting stylized effects in color.
To create a specific color palette, first apply Posterize to a grayscale version of your image, then convert back to your original color mode and use adjustment layers to replace the gray tones with your chosen colors.
Map image tones to gradients
Replace your image's tonal range with a gradient's colors. Shadows map to the gradient's starting color, highlights to the ending color, and midtones to colors in between.
Select the Gradient Map icon in the Adjustments panel, or select Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Gradient Map and select OK.
In the Properties panel, select the gradient preview bar to open the gradient picker.
Select a preset gradient from the picker, or select the gradient preview again to open the Gradient Editor and create a custom gradient.
In the Gradient Editor, adjust color stops by selecting them and choosing new colors, or add stops by clicking below the gradient bar.
Select Dither to add random noise, which smooths color transitions and reduces banding.
Select Reverse to flip the gradient direction, mapping shadows to the ending color instead.
Select OK to apply your gradient map.
For direct editing, select Image > Adjustments > Gradient Map.
To save custom gradients, open the Gradient Editor from the gradient preview and select New to add it to your gradient library. You can also use the gradient picker's menu to save or load gradient sets. Learn how to edit a gradient and more techniques.
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