Step 4: Switch Back To The Original Image

Now that we've selected the object in the first photo and selected a large area of color inside the object in the second photo, we can head over to the Match Color command. Before we do though, we need to make sure that our original photo is the one that Photoshop is currently looking at (the technical term would be to bring the original photo into "focus"), so click anywhere inside the document window of the original image to select it. The Match Color command is going to refer to this original image as the Destination Image, as if the colors from the second image will be taking a trip over to this one, while the second image (the one containing the color we need) will become the Source Image. For now, just make sure the original image is the one currently selected (in focus).

Step 5: Open The Match Color Command

With your original image selected, go up to the Image menu at the top of the screen, choose Adjustments, and then choose Match Color:

This brings up Photoshop's rather large Match Color dialog box. Now, I love Photoshop. I think it's the greatest thing since crayons. But quite honestly, between you and me, something just isn't right about the Match Color dialog box. It's confusing, and it shouldn't be. I wish Adobe would redesign it but so far, as of Photoshop CS3, they haven't, so we'll just have to cut through the confusion to get to the simplicity underneath.

The Match Color dialog box is divided into two main sections - Destination Image on top, and Image Statistics (say what?) on the bottom. See, you were thinking the bottom section would be called "Source Image", right? I mean, that would make sense. But nope, it's called "Image Statistics". Let's just leave the bottom section alone for now and look at the top section, "Destination Image".

The Destination Image is the image containing the colors you want to change. There's no way to actually set the Destination Image in the dialog box. Photoshop simply assigns whichever image you had selected when you chose the Match Color command from the Image Menu as your Destination Image, which is why I had you select your original image first. My original image is named "green.jpg", and we can see its name listed beside the word "Target" at the top of the dialog box:

Below the Destination Image's name is the Image Options section, containing options such as Luminance, Color Intensity, Fade, and Neutralize. Common sense might have you believing that since these options are clearly grouped in with the Destination Image section at the top, they have something to do with the Destination Image, but common sense would be wrong. They control the Source Image at the bottom, which you assign down in the Image Statistics section. See what I mean? This dialog box needs some work.

Fortunately, even though the dialog box itself is confusing, what we're trying to do with it is not. We already have our Destination Image chosen, so now we need to select our Source Image.

Step 6: Select Your Second Image As The Source

Down in the Image Statistics section at the bottom of the dialog box, you'll see an option named Source with a drop-down box beside it. Click on the small arrow to the right of the drop-down box and choose your second image from the list to set it as your Source image:

If your Source image contains multiple layers, you'll need to select the appropriate layer from the Layer option below the Source option. In my case, my second image contains only one layer, the original Background layer, so it's automatically selected for me.

Step 7: Tell Photoshop To Use The Selections You've Made In The Images

Directly above the Source option are two options with checkboxes beside them - Use Selection in Source to Calculate Colors and Use Selection in Target to Calculate Adjustment. The first option tells Photoshop that we want it to use only the colors inside our selection in the Source image when matching the colors to the Destination image. In other words, in my case, I want Photoshop to use only the purple colors I've selected inside the woman's top. If I didn't make that clear to Photoshop, it would ignore my selection and use colors from the entire photo, which isn't what we want, so make sure you click inside the checkbox for this option to select it.

The second option says that we want Photoshop to concern itself only with the specific object we selected in our original image when figuring out how to match the colors. In my case, that means I'm telling Photoshop that I only want it to look at the colors that make up the green top the woman is wearing. If I didn't specify this, Photoshop would take all the colors from the entire photo into consideration and the result wouldn't be as accurate, so make sure this option is also selected:

Click OK when you're done to exit out of the dialog box and have Photoshop try to match the colors in the Destination image with those from the Source image. In many cases, this works beautifully and no further work is needed. Depending on the images you're using though, that may not be the case. Sometimes Photoshop doesn't get it quite right. For me, this is one of those times. Here's what my original image now looks like (the selection is still visible and active):

Photoshop was able to get the basic color right, but there's definitely something wrong with the overall effect. The problem is that there's no longer any contrast in the woman's top. The dark shadow areas are much too light, and any subtle highlight areas have disappeared. Basically, it looks fake. This is one of those times when Match Color needs a little help. I could have tried adjusting the brightness by dragging the Luminance slider in the Image Options section of the Match Color dialog box, but all that would have done is made the entire top lighter or darker. I need to be able to adjust the highlights and shadows independently. Fortunately, it's easy to do, as we'll see next!