Trying to guess things like color, contrast, and saturation by eye when working in Photoshop isn’t the best option. Instead, create “color control” layers that simplify your image so you can more accurately control and adjust different settings without having to guess.

Step 1

Create a new layer at the top of your layer stack and go to Edit > Fill > 50% Gray.

Step 2

Change the Layer mode Unpleasant Brightnesswhich displays the colors of your image.

In this example, some aspects of the milk are red, while other aspects contain a lot of blue, and still others, such as the middle batch, have both red and blue accents. The milk bottle, on the other hand, is very yellow.

Step 3

To get an even clearer picture, go to the Amendment panel and make a Vibrance Adjustment Layer. Move it above the gray layer and set it to 100% saturationNow we can clearly see the different shades.

Step 4

Group these two layers using Control/Command-G. You can also lock this layer by clicking this icon, so you can freely click on your different layers without it getting in the way. This is a good idea for all of your check layers.

Step 5

Now let’s solve this milk situation. There are many different options to adjust colors. This time we choose Image > Adjustment > Hue and Saturation in Photoshop. Since milk is white, any color it has would largely be the colors reflected from its surroundings.

Step 6

When converting an image to one consistent color, check: Colorize. That’s what it does. Now set the hue so that the blue hue matches the blue in the sky, which is what the milk would reflect. Lower the saturation because milk is a white object. Repeat this step with each milk splash and the milk bottle, changing them all to a consistent shade of blue.

Step 7

Now use this layer to set a different color. For example, the bananas in our example lean toward red, so adjust that with a Hue/Saturation low to get some more yellow in.

Step 8

Use a Selective color adjustment layer to make the grass greener, which will contrast nicely with the reds and the strawberries. Selective color is a great adjustment if you want to identify and adjust a very specific use in an image.