This isn’t a QuarkXPress tip, but it’s a fix for something that we run into every day when laying out pages: how to make the overall color of one image resemble another.

The trick is to use Photoshop’s Match Color command. Just open two images — the one you want to change (the target) and the one whose color you’re trying to match (the source). Click within the target document in order to activate it and duplicate the image layer by pressing Command-J. Choose Image> Adjustments> Match Color and in the resulting dialog box, Photoshop picks the current document as the target.

Next, tell Photoshop the name of the source document by picking it from the Source pop-up menu. If the source document has several layers, you can choose the right one from the Layer pop-up menu or choose Merged if the source image contains adjustment layers. If the source document has just one layer, Photoshop automatically picks it.

If necessary, adjust the Luminance (lightness) and Color Intensity (saturation) sliders to make the colors match a little better. Adjust the Fade slider to use more or less of the source document’s original color. Turn on the Neutralize checkbox if your target image has a bit of a color cast, and Photoshop will try to get rid of it for you.

Jeff Gamet

Jeff Gamet is a contributing editor for Design Tools Monthly, the executive summary of graphic design news. He is also the morning editor and reviews editor for The Mac Observer and iPodObserver.com, and contributing writer for Layers Magazine and Photoshop User. He writes the InBrief column for InDesign Magazine, and is the author of “The Designer’s Guide to Mac OS X,” from Peachpit Press

When Jeff isn’t writing about the graphic design world, he’s talking about it on the Design Tools Weekly podcast with co-host Jay Nelson. He also talks about Apple and the Mac world every week on The Mac Observer’s Apple Weekly Report.

Jeff studies, tests and reviews new software and technologies for the Macintosh community as well as the design and print industries. He is a former Pre-press specialist, and has nearly 25 years experience with computer technology. Jeff trains, lectures and consults on techniques for more efficiently using Mac OS X in creative environments throughout the country.

In the rare moments when he can get away from his MacBook Pro, Jeff spends his time climbing and biking in the Colorado mountains.