Changing the hair and eye color of a photo in Photoshop isn’t actually hard. With a clean selection and color adjustment layers you can keep the result natural. Below is the short version for both hair and eyes.
Note: The original tutorial videos for this post are no longer available because the source YouTube channel was taken down. A written walkthrough follows.
Changing Hair Color
- Open the photo in Photoshop.
- Use the Quick Selection tool to grab the hair. For tricky edges, jump to Select > Select and Mask and clean wisps with the Refine Edge Brush.
- With the selection active, add Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Hue/Saturation — the selection becomes the layer mask automatically.
- Push the Hue slider for the tone, Saturation for richness, and Lightness for brightness. Lift Lightness for blonder hair; drop it to go darker.
- Brush black on the layer mask to fix any color spilling onto skin or background.
Tip: For very bright or muted colors, try Color Balance or Selective Color instead of Hue/Saturation. To preserve the highlights, set the layer Blend Mode to Color.
Changing Eye Color
- Zoom in (Z). Use the Elliptical Marquee or Lasso to select the iris of both eyes (not the pupil).
- Add Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Hue/Saturation.
- Slide Hue gently to land on blue/green/hazel. Keep Saturation in check — too much breaks realism.
- Mask out any color bleed onto pupil or sclera with a soft black brush.
- Drop the layer opacity to 60-80% for a natural feel.
Make It Look Natural
- Avoid full saturation — real hair and eye colors are never 100% saturated.
- If color spills onto skin, refine the mask.
- For hair caught in motion or wind, use Refine Edge with Decontaminate Colors.
- Stack a separate Hue/Saturation layer per color you want to try — easy to toggle on/off later.
