Project five: Adobe CC - Recolour your backdrops

James Paterson shows how to shift the colour of a backdrop – or anything else you like – using simple Photoshop tools

- James Paterson

The Mission

– Recolour a background using adjustment layers and masks in Photoshop

Time

– 10 minutes

Skill level

– Beginner

Kit needed

– Photoshop CC

Bold colours can help your portraits to pop, but you might not always find the colours you want while shooting. Thankfully, recolouring parts of a scene is easily done in post-production.

We’ll use simple Photoshop tools here to change the backdrop to a bold blue tone. You can adapt this technique to change the colour of pretty much anything you like.

At the time of the shoot here we found a convenient red wall next to a large window, so ideal for portraiture. But after the shoot the reds seemed somewhat overpowering, especially as the skin tones and hair also have slight varying shades of red. So instead, we isolated and recoloured the background in Photoshop.

Shifting colours is a fairly simple task. As usual with Photoshop, there are a myriad of ways to go about the task, but it’s best to do so in a non-destructive way, so that you have the freedom to choose another colour later on if you want. We’ll use adjustment layers here, which allow us to alter the colours on the layer (or layers) underneath while remaining editable throughout the entirety of the workflow.