Replacing Color in Photoshop.....

One of my favorite tools in Photoshop is the "Replace Color" tool. I Love this tool because you can get a very unique look after you replace colors. I took this photo of myself with my cell phone. Then I desaturated the photo, I simply went to "Image" then "Adjustments" then "Desaturate" Click where you would like to replace the color, when it chooses your shade, then go to "Replace Color" Choose the color you want, and it will replace it with your new color, its simple and gives your piece a very unique look.

This was a magazine cover I had to design for a college class. We had to desaturate a photo, and recolor only a part of it. So I chose to add the pink and blue. 

Another way to replace color in Photoshop is to desaturate your photo, and choose your paintbrush, then your color, and very carefully and precisely paint the photo, where you want the color to be. I have an example below of a family picture I took of a friends family. I changed the photo to Sepia, then I repainted their jeans blue. The trick is, you have to change the opacity on your brush. Make sure you start a brand new layer, only for your painting. Change the opacity on that particular layer. 

A couple more ideas, are to desaturate the photo, and only paint the flowers. Another idea is to take a close up portrait of someone, desaturate the photo, and repaint only their eyes. Back in the olden days, you have probably noticed photos painted, or dyed. Its basically the same idea, only back then they actually dyed or painted the photo with a special transparent dye. We are lucky now because we can do it digitally! There are countless ideas for this particular tool in Photoshop! You could even take a black and white photo of an old house, and only paint the house.