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To change eye color in Photoshop, add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer, limit it to the iris with a selection or Color Range mask, then refine the mask so the color stays inside the iris. The adjustment layer keeps the edit editable and preserves the original image data.

Change eye color with a selection and adjustment layer

  1. Select the iris. Open the portrait and use a selection tool, such as Quick Selection or Lasso, to select the iris. Keep the selection inside the iris edge as much as possible. Adobe’s color and tone guidance describes selection tools for targeting an area to adjust.
  2. Add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer. With the iris selected, create a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer. Photoshop uses the active selection to create a layer mask, restricting the adjustment to that area. Because it is an adjustment layer, you can revise or remove the color change without directly altering the original image.
  3. Adjust the color. In the Properties panel, move Hue to shift the color and Saturation to change its intensity. Judge the result on the portrait; there is no one slider setting that suits every image.
  4. Try Colorize if the old color is showing through. If the original iris color tints the replacement, enable Colorize and readjust the controls. Adobe recommends keeping Lightness at zero when the goal is to maintain contrast.
  5. Refine the mask. Select the adjustment layer’s mask thumbnail and paint on the mask to correct the boundary. White reveals the adjustment, black conceals it, and gray reveals it partially. Use white over missed parts of the iris and black where the color spills onto nearby areas. Adobe explains this mask behavior in its layer-mask guidance.
  6. Check the image at its intended viewing size. Look for spill beyond the iris and missed patches, then save with the adjustment layer intact if you may want to edit the result later.

Use Color Range as an alternative way to create the mask

If a hand-drawn selection is awkward, use Color Range to build the mask from sampled colors. Sample the iris color, adjust Fuzziness to control how broadly Photoshop includes similar colors, and create the mask. Refine it manually afterward using the same white-to-reveal and black-to-conceal approach.

Neither method is universally better: choose the one that isolates the iris more cleanly in your image and requires less mask cleanup. Both selection-based and sampled-color masks can be refined. Adobe’s mask documentation covers Color Range and mask refinement.

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Keep the recoloring controlled

  • Keep the adjustment localized to the iris; a mask is what prevents the color change from affecting surrounding pixels.
  • Use Hue to shift the color and Saturation to tune its intensity. Reassess the image after each change rather than relying on a preset value.
  • When Colorize helps counter the original iris tint, keep Lightness at zero if you want to maintain contrast.
  • Check mask edges and spill at the size people will actually view the image. Adobe documents mask controls, but does not specify eye-specific brush settings.

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