Using the Color Range Command in Photoshop

The Color Range command allows you to select similarly colored pixels in a selection or within an entire image. You can think of it as a smarter Magic Wand tool. Unlike the Magic Wand tool, however, Color Range lets you adjust your selection before you ultimately get the selection outline. It does this by using Fuzziness (a cousin of Tolerance), which allows you to select colors relative to how closely they resemble the sampled colors. Photoshop selects all the identical colors, partially selects similar colors, and does not select dissimilar colors. You adjust the Fuzziness, and Photoshop adjusts the selection.

Color Range basics
Here are some Color Range command tips before you get started:
- You can save and load color range settings by clicking the appropriate buttons in the dialog box. But heck, after you have a selection, you can also choose Select-->Save Selection to save it as an alpha channel.
- You can select a color range based on preset colors or tones that you choose from the Select drop-down list. For example, choosing red automatically selects all the red in the image. Choosing midtones selects all the medium-range tones in the image. And Out-of-Gamut (only available for RGB and Lab modes) selects all colors that cannot be printed using CMYK colors. If you choose the Color Range command when you have an active selection, Photoshop selects only colors within the selection outline and ignores the rest of your image.

Executing the Color Range command
Here’s all you need to know about working with the Color Range command:
1. Choose Select➪Color Range.
The Color Range dialog box appears in full glory.
2. Choose Sampled Colors from the Select drop-down list and then choose the Eyedropper (or Sampled Colors) tool in the dialog box.
3. Select a display option — Selection or Image.
I recommend leaving the setting at the default of Selection so that you can see the mask as you build it. You can toggle between the two views by pressing Ctrl (Ô on the Mac).
4. Either in the image itself or in the image preview in the Color Range dialog box, click to sample your desired colors.
The image preview changes to a mask. Black areas show unselected pixels, white areas show selected pixels, and gray areas show partially selected pixels. Your goal is to try to make what you want all white and what you don’t want all black. And if you want some things partially selected, they can remain gray.
5. Adjust the selection by adding or deleting colors.
You can select or delete as many base colors as you desire. Use the plus eyedropper icon to add, and use the minus eyedropper icon to delete. You can be lazy like me and just stick with
the regular eyedropper icon. Simply use Shift and Alt (Option on the Mac) to add and delete.
6. Fine-tune the range of colors by dragging the Fuzziness slider.
The Fuzziness ranges extend from 0 to 200. A higher value selects more colors, and a lower value selects fewer colors. As you adjust the Fuzziness, the mask dynamically updates.
The Invert option selects what is currently unselected and deselects what is currently selected. And if you totally muck things up, you can reset the dialog box by pressing Alt (Option on the Mac) and clicking Reset.
7. Choose a Selection Preview from the drop-down list to preview the selection in the image window.
- None displays the image normally.
- Grayscale displays just the grayscale mask.
- Black Matte and White Matte display the selection against a black or white background.
- Quick Mask shows the mask over your image, using your Quick Mask settings.
8. Click OK.
Your image appears with a selection outline based on the Color Range mask. Now do what you will with your nice, clean selection. I decided my Thai dancer needed to be in a more exotic locale, so I transported her (by dragging and dropping with the Move tool onto another image) to a mystical Shangri La.