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When your picture's colors look just too much (or not enough), you can use the Sponge tool to adjust the richness of the colors. Using the Sponge tool is like using a sponge to remove a stain or to saturate fabric with dye. You can use the Sponge tool to take away light, dark, and color, or to add more of the same. Found in Photoshop Elements (and in Photoshop and other applications, as well), the Sponge tool has two modes: Saturate and Desaturate. The names give the effects away, and you can use the tool simply:
1. Set your brush size so that you're applying the Sponge tool to an area no larger or smaller than you want.
2. Choose a Mode (Desaturate or Saturate) for the tool, if your image editor uses the same tool for both modes.
• Desaturate: Use Desaturate to tone down the color richness.
• Saturate: Use Saturate to increase the vividness of the color.
3. Adjust the Flow (amount of desaturation or saturation achieved) by dragging the slider to increase or decrease the default 50% level.
4. Click or drag with the tool to add or take away color, light, and dark from the image.
 | You essentially wash out the image if you desaturate, and you add more life if you saturate. |
When you saturate with the Sponge tool, remember that you can add more of what's already there only. You can't add color to a black-and-white photo with the Sponge tool, and you can't add vivid blue to an image that has no blue to begin with because of fading or degraded colors.
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