Selective colour editing

Indulge in creative compositing using Pixelmator Pro 3.3’s handy tool

- George Cairns

The macOS version of Apple's Photos app has a Selective Colour panel that enables you to target a specific colour in a picture and change its hue, saturation and brightness. This powerful tool is a springboard to a range of creative looks such as turning a blue sky into a cinematic cyan. You can also selectively darken the blue sky to make the clouds pop out in contrast. Pixelmator Pro has a very similar selective colour panel, but thanks to the latest upgrade that app now boasts an additional tool that Photos doesn't have: Remove Color.

This useful tool enables you to target a specific colour (such as a green background) and turn it completely transparent. You can then place another image on a layer below to give your isolated subject a new background. Remove Color works with stills and videos, so we'll put it through its paces with a greenscreen video clip (though the techniques are identical for removing colour in still images).

IT WILL TAKE
10 minutes

YOU WILL LEARN
How to remove a specific colour and add a new background

YOU'LL NEED
Pixelmator Pro 3.3 (£49.99), macOS 11 or later

Bluescreen on a budget