The color wheel: hue, chroma, and lightness

Open the Color tab with 2. For placing and moving pins, see Editing colors. For broader adjustments, see Saturation, Chroma curve, and Color EQ.

How the wheel maps color

Hue: angle around the wheel

Hue is the color's position around the center. Moving around the wheel changes the hue through reds, greens, blues, and the colors between them.

Chroma: distance from the center

Chroma describes how colorful a color is. The center is neutral, with zero chroma. Moving outward increases chroma, making colors more vivid.

Lightness: the strip below the wheel

Use the Lightness strip below the wheel to lighten or darken a selected color. Double-click it to reset the lightness adjustment.

The wheel's background is drawn at a fixed lightness. A position on the wheel represents hue and chroma; lightness is controlled separately.

Why OKLab?

The wheel uses OKLab, a color space designed to make changes in color more visually consistent. It lets you adjust hue, chroma, and lightness separately, making color shifts easier to judge by eye.

Your photo's colors

The dots on the wheel represent colors in your photo. Each dot's position shows its hue and chroma, while its appearance reflects the color's lightness.

Clusters show common colors. Spread-out points can reveal variations within an area, such as different greens in foliage or a gradient of blues in the sky.

The Working range buttons above the wheel show colors within a selected tonal range, such as highlights. See Luminance masks.

Fixed and Live color points

Click the gear icon at the bottom right of the wheel to open its options. Under Color points, choose:

• Fixed — the default. Points stay at their original positions, giving you a stable reference as you move pins.
• Live — points move as you grade. A small + marks each moved color's starting position, and a dot shows its current position. Live reflects adjustments from pins, Saturation, Color EQ, and Chroma curve.

Your choice is remembered across photos and between sessions.

You can also display another image's colors on the wheel as a reference. See Reference image.

Navigate the wheel

The wheel opens with your photo's colors in view.

• Fit (F) frames the colors in your photo.
• 1:1 (0) shows the full wheel.
• Zoom in to see closely grouped colors more clearly when placing a pin.

When zoomed in, faint rings and radial guides help you locate the center and follow hue directions. Pins outside the view show as dots at the edge, with a chevron pointing toward them.

Setting exposure, white balance, and contrast first can make color grading easier. See Tone and contrast.