A Color Story Filters: Shifting Colors

How to shift colors with A Color Story app
Hey, everyone! I’m Arielle, a photographer with a focus on lifestyle and abstract nature. I was so thrilled to be a part of the A Color Story test group. As soon as I opened up the tool box, I noticed so much more than your standard set of altering mechanisms. Today I’ll be touching on how to utilize hue shift as well as how it works with the main color tools. So, what is hue exactly? It’s a variety or shade of any given color in the spectrum. If you’ve experimented with hue shift already, you may have noticed that it can be very dramatic or give off a psychedelic vibe. Essentially, I’ll be showing you examples of photos where the entire image can be shifted to a totally different color while maintaining the original integrity and the best types of images to use while doing so.

Shifting Colors Using ACS Tools

How to shift colors with A Color Story app
Using an image that is all one color is a great place to start. My first example is this all over green agave plant. For this one, I shifted my hue all the way to the left, which took my shade of green from bright and saturated to more of a pale olive color. After saving that step, I took my hue to the left about 75% until I reached a bright pink shade. Finishing off, I bumped up the contrast by about 40% to really brighten the color. In three steps, the bright green was transformed into a rich coral color.

How to shift colors with A Color Story app
This next image has two main colors, but is still simple enough to keep the editing minimal. I started by shifting the hue to the right about 20%. You can see how the green changed to teal and the pink changed to a red-orange shade. Then to highlight my subject further, I took the contrast up by 40%. When editing images like these, you can really make it your own in terms of the hue and overall feeling of the photo.

Shifting Background and Foreground Colors

How to shift colors with A Color Story app
Talk about a game changer! This next example is how you can simply shift the color of a background. My first photo is on a grey table top with the subjects being multiple colors. For this one, we’ll start with shifting the highlight color. With blue selected, I shifted to the right about 50%. With that, the background changed dramatically from grey to purple. Then to really enhance the background, I took the tint tool in the purple direction about 25%. I rounded this edit off with a little extra saturation and done! Keep in mind with these kinds of edits, choose subjects in the same color family when possible. When you’re looking to shift your background to a different brighter color, shoot your subject on something neutral like grey, tan, or a very mellow shade of any color.

How to shift colors with A Color Story app
My next example for altering the background and foreground has two main colors. With the red highlight tool selected, I took it to the right 30%. Instantly, we have a pink sky! Next, we’ll make the green in the tree really stand out. Utilizing the hue shift tool, I took it to the right about 10%. Now that the colors are settled, I’m going to enhance them by jumping to the temperature tool and taking it to the blue side about 80% to really bring out the pink.

How to shift colors with A Color Story app
For the final example, I’ll be dramatically changing the color of the subject while keeping the background and surroundings relatively natural. First, I brought the hue to the left about 20%. You’ll see the entire image has a much more pink tone to it now. Going over to the tint tool, I took it in the green direction about 10% to compensate for the pink. I finished it off with +10% brightness, contrast, and saturation to really make the bus pop. This is a great example of changing one subject in the photo without jeopardizing the natural elements too much.

These options are truly endless and the best way to get the hang of it is through practice, but the most important thing is to have fun with it! Remember, you can always save your steps if you really love the tone of something and apply it to a similar photo later. Keep experimenting and make it your own. For more images like what you saw today, visit me on Instagram @ariellevey!

Credits//Author and Photography: Arielle Vey. All photos edited with A Color Story app.

Originally posted by A Beautiful Mess.

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