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The Color Replacement tool is great for touching up photos or dramatically changing the color of an element.  Really simple tool in Photo shop but I think many people over look it and try duplicating layers and using  Hue/Saturation (ctrl+U) to get the desired effect.

Be aware that the Color Replacement tool doesn’t work in images in Bitmap, Indexed or Multichannel color modes.

So lets use the Color Replacement tool to change these post-it notes to a traditional yellow.

The picture I’m going to use was taken in Toronto, ON, Canada and was a feature of the Graphic Exchange building, you could post anything you wanted onto the wall.  You can view more photos here

The only Step

Duplicate the layer so you don’t destroy the original, you can name them if you are really a neat freak or you can leave them as they are the only 2 layers you will use.  Once you have done that go image>Adjustments>Replace Color…

Now the replace color box will appear, if not you need to make sure the correct layer is selected otherwise Photoshop moans.  So you now have the replace color box up all you have to do is select the color you want to change, in my case its pink.

• Click on the image and find the pink to select more colors you can use the add to sample tool which is next to the subtract tool at the top of the replace color box.  The top swatch will fill with the selected color.
• Now to change the color go to the bottom of the replace color box and you can either use the sliders to change the color or click on the bottom swatch an pick the color your after or enter a specific value.

You should see nice yellow post-it notes.

Final Effect should look something like this

Yes, I have changed the yellow just to make it a little more realistic also cut out the floor section so the original floor shows through from the original photo.