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jaym54156493
Known Participant
April 24, 2023
Question

How do I REVERSE colors, not Invert in photoshop

  • April 24, 2023
  • 4 replies
  • 25613 views

I have a bunch of logos that have a blue background with white detail. The white detail, because it's anti-aliased, has some of it as a gray scale.  What I need is blue detail, with a white background. I'd like the blue detail to also include the tone or brightness of the way the white detail was. 


In searching, everything I've found has been using "invert", which turns the white into black, and the blue into orange. I've found nothing that shows how to reverse colors. 

4 replies

Karthik balaji
Participating Frequently
April 25, 2023

Hi,

One way to achieve the desired effect is to use a combination of layer blending modes and adjustment layers in Photoshop or a similar image editing software. Here's a step-by-step guide:

1.Open your logo image in Photoshop.

2.Duplicate the layer by pressing Ctrl+J (Windows) or Command+J (Mac).

3.Change the blending mode of the duplicate layer to "Screen". This will lighten the image and make the blue background more prominent.

4.Add a new adjustment layer by clicking on the "Create new fill or adjustment layer" button at the bottom of the Layers panel and choose "Invert". This will invert the colors of the entire image, including the blue and white areas.

5.Clip the adjustment layer to the duplicate layer by holding down Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac) and clicking between the adjustment layer and the duplicate layer in the Layers panel. This will apply the adjustment layer only to the duplicate layer and not affect the original.

6.Add another adjustment layer, this time choosing "Levels". Use the sliders to adjust the brightness and contrast of the image until the blue detail matches the tone and brightness of the original white detail.

7.Finally, add a new layer at the bottom of the layer stack and fill it with white using the Paint Bucket tool. This will create a white background for the logo.

8.Save the image as a new file to preserve the original.

These steps should result in a version of your logo with blue detail and a white background that matches the tone and brightness of the original white detail.

 

Hope you find this helpfull .

 

Karthik

jaym54156493
Known Participant
April 25, 2023

wow, sounds like once I get it down, I'll need to create an action to dupelicate it over multiple icons. 

Thanks.

davescm
Community Expert
Community Expert
April 24, 2023

A gradient map adjustment layer might do what you want. It maps luminosity values to a colour gradient so selecting the colours you want to map to should achieve that change.

 

Dave

jaym54156493
Known Participant
April 25, 2023

Thanks Dave, I'll have to look that up, but I'll give it a try. 

 

davescm
Community Expert
Community Expert
April 25, 2023

The gradient map adjustment layer looks like this, you can see the original on the bottom layer and the gradient I used in Properties. Double click the gradient to adjust it :

 

Dave

Jeff Arola
Community Expert
Community Expert
April 24, 2023

You could try an Invert Adjustment Layer and then change the Layer Blending Mode to Color

jaym54156493
Known Participant
April 25, 2023

Thanks Jeff, I'll give it a try. 

Kevin Stohlmeyer
Community Expert
Community Expert
April 24, 2023

Hi @jaym54156493 there is no automated way to swap (not reverse) colors. What you'll need to do is deconstruct and apply the blue and white to the elements you want. Without  screenshot of what you are working with the only advice I can give is to use the selection tools, to select and separate each element into different layers. You can then fill as needed with blue or white. 

jaym54156493
Known Participant
April 25, 2023

Hey Kevin, 
Thanks, good point on not seeing. Here's one of them. I'm looking to get a blue gear, with white background. 

I have dozens of similar icons as I go with a rainbo of colors, but always white on color background. Since they're going inline with text in a topic, I'll be less jarring, but just as recognizable to reverse them. I've taken them to black and white, but would like to go color on the current project. 

-Jay