Why, when i use color mode in layer blending mode or with the pen it turn desaturated

[louis-étienned6559576]

Why, when i use color mode in layer blending mode or with the pen it turn desaturated

[Chuck Uebele]

Can you post a screen shot? What color is the pen or layer that you're applying the blend mode to?

[louis-étienned6559576]

[louis-étienned6559576]

up left. i picked up the color in the hair, then i paint it on the grey hair and when i put the blending mode in : color it appear desaturated. It is the same when i use the color blending mode with the pen

[D Fosse · Accepted solution]

This normal and expected. Very dark and very light colors inherently have low saturation. When you reach full black and full white, saturation is 0.

"Color" in Photoshop has a slightly different meaning than in everyday speech. In Photoshop, Color is strictly separate from Luminance. So in your sample, there actually is very little saturation.

Think of colors (in the everyday meaning) as a globe. The north pole is white, the south pole is black. All the fully saturated colors run along the equator. You can see what happens as you travel north or south: saturation goes down.

In your case, you need to use other blend modes like Darken or Multiply, and carefully brush in.

[Chuck Uebele · Accepted solution]

It looks like you're sampled color is just too dark and close to black. I tried it and got the same results. But after I brightened up the solid color fill layer, it worked better. I added to the right side of her head.

[louis-étienned6559576]

Thank's buddy i will try today. But i still think it's weird we cant sample dark brown to fix dark hair. It look a bug. dont you think so ?

[Chuck Uebele]

No, not a bug. That's how color blend mode works. Alough it does seem strange that this was so desaturated, with the photo that you were using. It might be different if you were using L*A*B*, where color and luminosity are separate channels, and you can have a very saturated dark color.

[George_F]

In case this helps, color grading a small area like this is something I typically do with a hue/saturation adjustment layer with the colorize box checked.  Adjust the hue, saturation, and luminance sliders until the colors match.  Dark brown is an orange/red hue with the luminance pulled down for instance.  

Good luck!