iIf you are a jeweler or a photographer, you should know the importance of color variation of jewelry. Therefore, you may think of taking a separate photo of each colored product. However, it will increase the cost of both photography and manufacturing jewelry.

Changing the color of your jewelry to other colors in Photoshop is a great way to save a bunch of money. Using Photoshop you can change metal and gem colors and make a variety of colors from one single item being shot

This tutorial show you how to change jeweler’s metal color from yellow gold to rose gold using Photoshop tool step by step, etc. Hue/Saturation tool and pen tool
Before start change color to rose gold, we should learn what is rose gold and it should look like.

Rose gold is a blend, or an alloy of pure 24 karat yellow gold, copper and silver. Different alloy recipes are used to color and determine all types of metal made into jewelry including platinum, white gold, yellow gold and rose gold.
The depth of color in the rose gold depends on the ratio of yellow gold to copper. Less yellow gold, and a higher copper content will result in a more reddish rose color. As an example 14K rose gold is more of a rose pink color than 18K rose gold due to the higher yellow gold content in 18K. To create our lush red gold color known as rose or red gold, our 14 karat yellow gold is an alloy of 58.30% 24k yellow gold, 33.5% copper and 8.20% percent silver.

Learn more about rose gold

Change Jewelry Color Key Tips

Step 1: Open The Jewelry Photo By Photoshop

Open a new image in Photoshop by below for steps

•  In Photoshop, choose File→Open.Or press Ctrl+O (Command+O on the Mac).
  The standard Open dialog box for Windows or the Mac OS (operating system) appears. The layout of the dialog box differs slightly between the two.
• Navigate to the folder that contains your file.From the Files of type list (Windows) or Enable pop-up menu (Mac OS), you can select which types of files you want to display.

• Click the name of the image file you want to open. To select multiple files, click the first file and then Ctrl-click (Command-click on the Mac) each additional file.
  You may see a preview of the image in the Open dialog box’s Preview pane, Preview column (in column view) or in the cover flow (in cover flow view).
• After you select the file you want, click the Open button. The file opens in Photoshop.
  If you choose File→Open Recent, a submenu lists the last files you worked on. Click a filename to open it or simply type the number next to the filename. You can specify the number of files that appear on this menu in the File Handling section of the Preferences dialog box.

Step 2: Select The Pen Tool

To change the jewelry metal color without affecting the diamond and background, We have to make two exactly selection to separate the metal, diamond and background.

Adobe Photoshop also offers a number of selection tools: Quick Mask, Rectangular marquee, Elliptical marquee, Lasso, Polygonal Lasso, Magnetic Lasso, Magic Wand.

The method you choose to accomplish this depends on the complexity of the object. The Lasso and Magic Wand tools are ideal for simple objects or objects that are on backgrounds of a uniform color. For more precise work, the Quick Mask or Pen tools are better suited.

Once you have separated an object from its background, you can then add it to new images or layouts to create eye-catching advertisements, presentations or other business documents.
Professional jewelry retoucher usually use Pen tool to make selection. Because Pen tool can correctly define the outline the area you want to retouch

We will draw two paths for the jewelry. The first path for the ring to separate the ring with background. The second path for the diamond to separate the diamond with ring.
It is vital to mention that all elements of the jewelry need to have their own paths and layers as each element will need to be edited separately。The settings that apply to ‘metals’ layers cannot be applied to ‘main-stone’ layer.

Draw a path around the ring. Making the path close to the ring and smooth.
Click again the create path icon and rename the path ‘diamond’ in the Paths panel . Then draw a path around the diamond.

Tips: how to use pen tool

• To change the direction of the curve sharply, release the mouse button, and then Alt-drag (Windows) or Option-drag (Mac OS) the direction point in the direction of the curve. Release the Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) key and the mouse button, reposition the pointer where you want the segment to end, and drag in the opposite direction to complete the curve segment.
• Alt-drag (Windows) or Option-drag (Mac OS) direction lines to break out the direction lines of an anchor point.
• Press Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) to temporarily change the Pen tool to the Convert Point tool.

To convert the path we made to selection, We click Load Path As A button at the bottom of the Paths panel.

To soften the edges of selection that we create by the path, We use the feathering action. Choose Select > Modify > Feather. In the dialog box that appears, enter a Tolerance value. In this case, I enter 1.0

Tips:amounts of feathering

Photoshop refers to softening the edges of a selection as “feathering” the selection, and there are plenty of times when we need to feather our selection edges since not everything we need to select has edges that are sharp and clearly defined.

The results of the feathering depend on the resolution of the image. A feather of 20 pixels in a 72 ppi (pixels per inch) image is a much larger area than a feather of 20 pixels in a 300 ppi image. Typical amounts for a nice vignette on an edge of an image are 20 to 50 pixels. Experiment with images to find what works best for you.

To change the jewelry color, we’ll use a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer by the selection we just made. Making sure the selection is action. In bottom of the Layers panel, click the New Fill or Adjustment Layer icon.

Tips:How to apply a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer

1. Add an adjustment layer. Do one of the following:
   *In the menu bar, choose Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Hue/Saturation. Click OK in the New Layer dialog box.
   *In the Adjustments panel, click the Hue/Saturation icon.
2. In the Properties panel, choose the following options:
   *From the Preset menu, choose a Hue/Saturation preset .
   *From the menu to the right of the On-image adjustment tool :
   Choose Master to adjust all colors at once.
   Choose one of the other preset color ranges listed for the color you want to adjust.

Step 6: Select The “YELLOW” PANEL

The controls and options for the Hue/Saturation adjustment layer appear in Photoshop’s Properties panel. Since most color detail is yellow in this photo. So we will ONLY choose and make change of yellow color.

In the Properties panel, choose a YELLOW color from the menu.

Tips: About Hue Saturation Panel

The Hue Saturation Panel in Photoshop is a simple yet fine-tuned tool for color management. You can use Hue Saturation to adjust unwanted color casts in your images, such as incorrect white balance, or you can use them to change and manipulate colors for creative editing.

To change a different color for the ring, We drag the Hue slider. From left to right cycles you will see all the colors, moving from red on the far left to oranges and yellows, greens, blues, magentas.
You’ll see the jewelry color changing in the image as you drag the slider. I’ll set my Hue value to around -21 for a rose gold color,

Change jewelry color by dragging the Hue slider. You will notice that the diamond be a little pink when change the ring color. Don’t worry the diamond color is change. We’ll make it back later

Tips:How to adjust the hue? Do any of the following:

Drag the Hue slider or enter a value until you are satisfied with the colors.

The values displayed in the box reflect the number of degrees of rotation around a color wheel from the original color of the pixel. A positive value indicates clockwise rotation; a negative value indicates counterclockwise rotation. Values can range from ‑180 to +180.

Select the On-image adjustment tool . Then Ctrl-click (Windows) or Command-click (Mac OS) a color in the image and drag left or right in the image to modify the Hue value. For Lightness, enter a value or drag the slider to the right to increase the lightness (add white to a color) or to the left to decrease it (add black to a color). Values can range from ‑100 (percentage of black) to +100 (percentage of white).

Step 8: Lower The Saturation Of The New Color

Once you’ve change a rose gold color with the Hue slider, drag the Saturation slider to the left to lower the intensity until the color looks more natural.
In this case, We set A Saturation value of between 10 and 15 usually works well:
The compare result after lowering the saturation, The rose gold color now looks less intense and more natural.

Tips:How to adjust the saturation? Do any of the following:

Enter a value or drag the Saturation slider to the right to increase the saturation or to the left to decrease it.
Values can range from ‑100 (percentage of desaturation, duller colors) to +100 (percentage of saturation increase).
Select the On-image adjustment tool and click a color in the image. Drag left or right in the image to decrease or increase saturation of the color range that includes the pixel you clicked.

In the Layers panel, above Background layer is the Hue/Saturation adjustment layer sits. The adjustment layer’s blend mode is set to Normal.

it means that it’s affecting not only the color of the jewelry but also the brightness.
To protect the original brightness. You can select the blend mode from Normal to Color, It means we only affect the jewelry color tone.

The difference can be subtle, but you should see more of the original detail in the photo after switching to the Color blend mode. the jewelry now appear brighter than they set with Normal mode .

Tips: About Color Blending mode

Photoshop offer 19 original Blending Modes are: Normal, Dissolve, Darken, Multiply, Color, Burn, Darker Color, Lighten Screen, Color Dodge, Lighter Color, Overlay, Soft Light, Hard Light, Difference, Exclusion, Hue, Saturation, Color, and Luminosity.

Color Blending mode descriptions
Creates a result color with the luminance of the base color and the hue and saturation of the blend color. This preserves the gray levels in the image and is useful for coloring monochrome images and for tinting color images.

Layer masking is a useful way to hide part of a layer. This gives you more editing flexibility when you want to remove or change part of the adjustment layer for your jewelry image.

You can add black or white to the layer mask. Black on a layer mask hides the layer that contains the mask, White on a layer mask shows the layer that contains the mask.

You will notice the diamond’s was a little pink when we changing jewelry metal from yellow gold to rose gold.

To make the diamond original color back, we can select the layer mask, then fill the diamond areas with black color to high the adjustment layer. It means those areas are still showing their original color.

Then we turn to the Paths panel and Select the diamond path we made before. We click the button at the bottom of the Paths panel to load the path to selection
Convert the diamond path to selection To soften the edges of selection that create by the path, Choose Select > Modify > Feather. In the dialog box that appears, Enter 1.0 again

To turn back the original color for the diamond, We need to fill the select we made for diamond with black.

Press the letter D on your keyboard to reset the Foreground and Background colors to their defaults. This will set your Foreground color to white and the Background color to black
Then press the letter X on your keyboard to swap the colors, making your Foreground color to black.

The Foreground (upper left) and Background (lower right) color swatches.
Then press the letter X on your keyboard to swap the colors, making your Foreground color black.

Turn to the Layers panel again. Making sure the diamond selection is active.
Open Edit > Fill, In the dialog box, under Contents, select to fill with the foreground color.

now the diamond color come back to original. the diamond selection protect it not affect by the settings that apply to ‘metals’.

If you are satisfied with the rose gold color now. You will save the images to PSD format.

PSD is a proprietary file that can keep the adjustment Layer to work with after the file has been saved. By this way. you can change the jewelry color again in the future if you want.

Select File > Save As. dialog box will appear. Type the desired file name, then choose a location for the file. Click the Format menu, then choose the desired file format. In our example, we’ll save this image as a PSD file

Tips: What is a PSD file?

A PSD file is an image file created by Adobe Photoshop, a professional image-editing program often used to enhance digital photos and create web graphics. It is the native format used to save files in Photoshop. PSD files may include image layers, adjustment layers, layer masks, annotations, file information, keywords, and other Photoshop-specific elements. They are commonly created and shared among graphics professionals.

you can modify PSD layers and other elements such as images, shapes, text, and effects. The PSD format supports RGB, CMYK, grayscale, monochrome, duotone, indexed color, Lab color, and multichannel color modes.

When jewelry recolor work is done, if you need this photo to be more professional looks. You have to do further retouch for it.

First you will remove the holding wax under the ring. Learn how to remove jewelry holding wax. Then adjust the diamond color and light. Learn how to adjust diamond color. Clean the dust and flaws,

Final you will make the background to white and add a real shadow for the jewelry.
Our team offer all above work,Here is the final effect after further retouching, Learn more about our jewelry retouching service.