Photoshop Elements 5: The Missing Manual

260 Photoshop Elements 5: The Missing Manual

Changing the Color of

an Object

The Options bar settings make a big difference in the way the Color Replacement

tool works:

• Brush Options. These settings (size, hardness, angle, and so on) work the same

way they do for any brush. See Chapter 12 for more information about brushes.

• Mode. This is the blend mode (page 322) the tool uses. Generally you want

Color or Hue, although you can get some funky special effects with Saturation.

• Sampling. These choices appear as icons in the Options bar. Click one to tell the

tool how to look for colors in your image. From left to right, they stand for

Continuous, Once, and Background Swatch. If you choose Continuous, the

brush changes every color that falls under the crosshairs as you move through

your photo. Choosing Once means that no matter how far you travel while

holding the mouse button, Elements replaces only the color that was under the

crosshairs when you first clicked. Background Swatch means that Elements

replaces only the color currently featured in the Background color swatch.

• Limits. This setting tells the Color Replacement tool which areas of your photo

to look at in its search for color. Contiguous means only areas that touch each

other get changed. Discontiguous means the tool changes all the places it finds a

color—whether they’re touching one another or not.

• Tolerance. This is just like