Desaturate a specific area of an image
Last updated
Last updated
The Desaturate tool is used to make the colors in a specific area of an image less vivid and vibrant. Using this tool, you can also take out all the color from a specific area to turn it black and white, while leaving the rest of the image in color.
Do one of the following:
In the Tools sidebar, click Desaturate or choose it from the grouped tools.
Choose Tools > Retouch > Desaturate from the Tools menu at the top of your screen.
In the Tool Options pane, customize the Desaturate tool:
Brush Size: Drag the Brush Size slider to adjust the size of the Desaturate tool brush. Press and hold the Option ⌥ key to extend the range of the Brush Size slider beyond 100%. You can also manually enter a value from 0% to 200%.
💡 Tip: You can use the [ and ] keys on your keyboard to change the size of the Desaturate tool brush.
Softness: Drag the Softness slider to adjust the softness of the edges of the Desaturate tool brush. With softer edges, the desaturated areas will usually blend in better with the rest of the image.
Strength: Drag the Strength slider to adjust the intensity of the desaturation effect.
Select a tonal range to desaturate:
All: When you brush over an area to desaturate it, the darkest, brightest, and midtone areas are desaturated equally.
Shadows: When you brush over an area to desaturate it, only the shadows in that area are desaturated.
Midtones: When you brush over an area to desaturate it, only the midtones in that area are desaturated.
Highlights: When you brush over an area to desaturate it, only the highlights in that area are desaturated.
Brush over the area of your image you’d like to desaturate.
Show Original: Click the Show Original button to see what the image looked like before.
Show Split Comparison: Option ⌥ – click the Show Original button or press Control ⌃ + C on your keyboard.
Click Reset to discard all the current changes.
