Hue/Saturation lets you adjust the hue, saturation, and lightness of a specific range of colors in an image or simultaneously adjust all the colors in an image. This adjustment is especially good for fine-tuning colors in a CMYK image so that they are in the gamut of an output device.
You can save Hue/Saturation settings in the Adjustments panel (CS5) or the Properties panel (CS6), and then load them for reuse in other images. For more information, see Save adjustment settings and Reapply adjustment settings.
For more information on image adjustments, see Adjusting image color and tone in CS6.
- Click the Hue/Saturation icon
in the Adjustments panel. - (CS5) Click a Hue/Saturation preset in the Adjustments panel.
- Choose Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Hue/Saturation. Click OK in the New Layer dialog box.
The two color bars in the dialog box represent the colors in their order on the color wheel. The upper color bar shows the color before the adjustment; the lower bar shows how the adjustment affects all of the hues at full saturation.
Note:
You can also choose Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation. But keep in mind that this method makes direct adjustments to the image layer and discards image information.
- Click the Hue/Saturation icon
In the Adjustments panel (CS5) or the Properties panel (CS6), choose from the menu to the right of the On-image adjustment tool
:- Choose one of the other preset color ranges listed for the color you want to adjust. To modify the color range, see Specify the range of colors adjusted using Hue/Saturation.
- (CS6) Choose a Hue/Saturation preset from the Preset menu.
The values displayed in the box reflect the number of degrees of rotation around the wheel from the original color of the pixel. A positive value indicates clockwise rotation; a negative value, counterclockwise rotation. Values can range from ‑180 to +180.
Color wheel
A. Saturation B. HueYou can also select the On-image adjustment tool
in the Adjustments panel (CS5) or the Properties panel (CS6), and then Ctrl-click (Windows) or Command-click (Mac OS) a color in the image. Drag left or right in the image to modify the hue value.- For Saturation, enter a value or drag the slider to the right to increase the saturation or to the left to decrease it.
The color shifts away from or toward the center of the color wheel. Values can range from ‑100 (percentage of desaturation, duller colors) to +100 (percentage of saturation increase).
You can also , select the On-image adjustment tool
in the Adjustments panel (CS5) or the Properties panel (CS6), and click a color in the image. Drag left or right in the image to decrease or increase saturation of the color range that includes the pixel you clicked.
Note:
Click the Reset button 
to undo a Hue/Saturation setting in the Adjustments panel (CS5) or the Properties panel (CS6).
In the Adjustments panel (CS5) or the Properties panel (CS6), choose a color from the menu to the right of the On-image adjustment button
.Four color wheel values (in degrees) appear in the Adjustments panel (CS5) or the Properties panel (CS6). They correspond to the adjustment sliders that appear between the color bars. The two inner vertical sliders define the color range. The two outer triangle sliders show where the adjustments on a color range “fall off” (fall‑off is a feathering or tapering of the adjustments instead of a sharply defined on/off application of the adjustments).
- Click or drag in the image with the Eyedropper
tool
to
select a color range. To expand the range, click or drag in the
image with the Add To Sample Eyedropper tool 
. To
reduce the range of color, click or drag in the image with the Subtract
From Sample Eyedropper tool 
. While
an eyedropper tool is selected, you can also press Shift to add
to the range, or Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) to subtract
from it.
- Drag one of the white triangle sliders to adjust the amount of color fall‑off (feathering of adjustment) without affecting the range.
- Drag the area between the triangle and the vertical bar to adjust the range without affecting the amount of fall‑off.
- Drag the center area to move the entire adjustment slider (which includes the triangles and vertical bars) to select a different color area.
- Drag one of the vertical white bars to adjust the range of the color component. Moving a vertical bar from the center of the adjustment slider and closer to a triangle increases the color range and decreases the fall‑off. Moving a vertical bar closer to the center of the adjustment slider and away from a triangle decreases the color range and increases the fall‑off.
- Ctrl-drag (Windows) or Command-drag (Mac OS) the color bar so that a different color is in the center of the bar.
Hue/Saturation adjustment slider
A. Hue slider values B. Adjusts fall‑off without affecting range C. Adjusts range without affecting fall‑off D. Adjusts range of color and fall‑off E. Moves entire sliderIf you modify the adjustment slider so that it falls into a different color range, the name in the Edit menu changes to reflect this change. For example, if you choose Yellow and alter its range so that it falls in the red part of the color bar, the name changes to Red 2. You can convert up to six of the individual color ranges to varieties of the same color range (for example, Red through Red 6).
By default, the range of color selected when you choose a color component is 30° wide, with 30° of fall‑off on either side. Setting the fall‑off too low can produce banding in the image.
- Click or drag in the image with the Eyedropper
tool
In the Adjustments panel (CS5) or the Properties panel (CS6), select the Colorize option. If the foreground color is black or white, the image is converted to a red hue (0°). If the foreground color is not black or white, the image is converted to the hue of the current foreground color. The lightness value of each pixel does not change.
Vibrance adjusts the saturation so that clipping is minimized as colors approach full saturation. This adjustment increases the saturation of less-saturated colors more than the colors that are already saturated. Vibrance also prevents skintones from becoming over saturated.
- Choose Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Vibrance. In the New Layer dialog box, type a name for the Vibrance adjustment layer and click OK.
Note:
You can also choose Image > Adjustments > Vibrance. But keep in mind that this method makes direct adjustments to the image layer and discards image information.
In the Adjustments panel (CS5) or the Properties panel (CS6), drag the Vibrance slider to increase or decrease color saturation without clipping when colors become more saturated. Then, do one of the following:
- To apply more adjustment to less saturated colors and prevent colors clipping as they reach total saturation, move the Vibrance slider to the right.
.The Sponge tool subtly changes the color saturation of an area. When an image is in Grayscale mode, the tool increases or decreases contrast by moving gray levels away from or toward the middle gray.
.
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