Described is an image editing application with a novel color modification slider tool. This tool adjusts one or more color attributes of different pixels differently when moved. This tool in some embodiments is a novel saturation tool that produces non-photorealistic effects by treating differently the highly saturated and lowly saturated pixels of an image. The saturation tool performs either (1) a positive de-saturation effect that de-saturates the low saturated pixels of an image while enhancing the saturation of the high saturated pixels, or (2) a negative de-saturation effect that de-saturates the high saturated pixels of the image while leaving intact or slightly modifying the saturation level of the lowly saturated pixels.