Secondary Colour Grading > Creating a Secondary by Keying a Range of Colours >

# Using the Hue, Luminance, and Saturation (HLS) Keyer to Extract a Key

With the HLS Keyer, you can extract a key based on hue, luminance, and saturation channels. You can use one or more of these channels to create a key.

You can also use previously saved keyer presets. See Saving and Loading Presets Using the Presets Lists.

Once you have extracted a key, you can modify a key by adjusting the Master Tolerance and Master Softness sliders or by using the Add/Remove Softness and Tolerance buttons. You can further modify a key using the Cleanup, Shrink, and Blur parameters.

Before extracting a key, you can modify the source image by using the Input Transform Log to Lin and Soften options. See Tools Settings.

NoteTo disable the HLS Keyer at any time, right-click on the Keyer option box.

Use the following workflow to extract a key for colour isolation.

Step: | Refer to:
--- | ---
1. Determine which channels you want to use in a key. | See Setting Keying Parameters in the HLS Keyer.
2. Select the colour that you want to key. | See Sampling a Colour in the HLS Keyer.
3. View your secondary to determine the range of colour you have keyed. | See Viewing Secondaries in the HLS Keyer.
4. Set the tolerance to widen or narrow the range of luminance and chrominance values to extract in a key. | See Setting the Tolerance Range in the HLS Keyer.
5. Set the softness to widen or narrow the range of luminance and chrominance values to extract at the edge of a key. | See Setting the Softness Range in the HLS Keyer.
6. Blend the light and dark edges of a key by shrinking, eroding, or blurring the edges of a key. | See Modifying the Edges of the Key.
7. Clean up a key for colour grading. | See Removing Stray Pixels from a Key.
8. Increase or decrease the softness of pixels that are in the tolerance range. | See Sharpening a Key Source Image.

The following procedures are not essential for extracting a key. You can perform these procedures at any time after extracting a key.

Step: | Refer to:
--- | ---
1. Remove colours that you do not want to include in a key. | See Inverting Keys.
2. Exclude a key that you do not want to appear in a secondary. | See Excluding Keys from Secondaries.

#### Topics in this section

- Setting Keying Parameters in the HLS Keyer
- Sampling a Colour in the HLS Keyer
- Viewing Secondaries in the HLS Keyer
- Setting the Tolerance Range in the HLS Keyer
- Setting the Softness Range in the HLS Keyer