Hello! Last week I reviewed using Procreate’s Recolor Tool, so this week, I’ll go over a couple of ways to edit colors using Affinity Photo for iPad.

Today’s image changes are a lot more subtle than last week’s, but I think it shows off the power of Photo’s tools.

Original image with too much green and yellow

Photo’s Adjustment Layers create a non-destructive adjustment so you can continue to edit the layer as you work on your image. To open, tap the Adjustments menu (make sure Adjustments is the header at the top of the menu), then tap Selective Color, an understated but remarkable tool.

Quick Tip: Any time you want to re-edit an adjustment layer, double-tap on the adjustment’s thumbnail in the layers panel. You can also Reset or Delete from the same menu below.

Once you’ve tapped Selective Color, a panel appears at the bottom, where you can edit your color. First, choose a color channel or range you want to work in. For this image, the amber glass was a little too yellow for my taste. I brought the Cyan down to about -37%, and I cranked the Magenta up to 100%.

I added a second color adjustment to the image, this time with the HSL (Hue / Saturation / Lightness) Adjustment layer, found in the same Adjustments fly-out menu. I used this adjustment to add a bit of lavender to the trees in the background. I tapped the green to limit the hue adjustment’s range, and took the slider way up towards the red spectrum. I also decreased the saturation a little.

Quick Tip: If you tap the Adjustments heading on the fly-out menu, you can tap each category and see any built-in presets included in the app.

Photo’s non-destructive editing is an advantage over Procreate’s color tools, which commit color changes. Backing out of a change can mean several Undo taps, potentially undoing other changes at the same time. Also, there are more color adjustment options to choose from in Photo (over a dozen), while Procreate’s are more limited. On the other hand, Procreate’s recoloring interface is both simple and speedy. Sometimes I admit I go down the rabbit hole in Photo trying out various adjustments!

Do you use recolor tools on your layouts? What are your favorite techniques?

There’s still time this month to join in the Mobile challenge in the forum. It’s fun, free, and a little creative exercise/escape. Plus, you can earn 100 points for participating.

This layout uses Heartstrings Scrap Arts Stardust Soul Bundle.