How to recolor selection but keep texture

[SkipII-VFbMkZ]

How do you recolor a selection but maintain the shading or texture of the seleciton. For example, I see people use PE to recolor cars, but it keeps the shaded or shiny areas and just seems to change the paint color. When I do it, it changes the whole selection to the flat color.

thanks for any help. 

[Mark_Sand]

Add a blank layer and set its Blend Mode to Color. Then paint away. If the result is too dark you can lower the layer's Opacity. In thie example Layer 1 was 100% Opacity and Layer 2 70%. If the result is too light you can duplicate the layer and change it's Blend Mode to Multiply and lower its Opacity if necessary.

Of course you can do this directly on the picture layer by using the Brush tool with Mode Color, but this change is permanent.

Another advantage of the separate layer is that you can add a Hue/Saturation layer above it if you want to change the color again.

[SkipII-VFbMkZ]

Thnaks for reply, but hope you'll stick with me on some basic.

"Add a blank layer." Do you mean Layer>New? I don't see anything called "blank" in the menu.

Not sure what you mean "set blend mode to color." I don't see anything on the drop-down menu for that new later called "blend" or even just "color."

Sorry..but what do you mean "paint away?'  Don't I have to select my items? Paint with what?

Sorry, for the newbie questions but I cannot find a step-to-step on this anywhere.

[Mark_Sand]

Sorry! Didn't realize you are a newbie.

Blank  layer is Layer > New.  Also you can click the "Create a new layer" icon in the layers palette. In my PSE version 2 this is the middle icon at the bottom (the one with 2 squares). In your version it might be located elsewhere in the palette.

In my version the Blend Mode is the unnamed drop-down list at the top left corner of the palette. Again, it must be somewhere in your palette. When you add a new layer the default Blend Mode is Normal which when you paint would give a solid color.

"Paint away" means to set the Foreground color (red in my example) and use the Brush tool to paint on the layer. You can also select the area and do Edit > Fill and fill with the Foreground color.

[SkipII-VFbMkZ]

I do not see a "brush" tool, only Paint bucket. I have a "healing brush" tool, if that is what you meant?

[Mark_Sand]

My version doesn't have the Healing Brush but maybe it does allow you to change color. I don't know anything about that tool.  However I'm guessing the change is permanent if you use it directly on the picture, unless you can use it on a blank layer.

Newer versions also have a Smart Brush which might also allow you to change color.

[SkipII-VFbMkZ]

Mark,

Thank you VERY MUCH for haning in here with me a bit.

I am still baffled.

I have PE6, but the way, as a starting point.

I did LayerNew, and I have the choice in the top left of the window to select "Mode" but none of them is "blend." (the list includes things like solid, lighten color, dissolve, etc. but no "blend.) There is also a choice for opacity.

I also do not understand layers. Am I supposed to have the new layer checked when I do this? If so, there is nothing there, just the checkerboard background. I think I am supposed to have both layers checked to show, but have the new later highlighted?

Don't I have to select out the area I want to color? Right now, if I try to color at all, nothing happens and then when I click out of the "brush" the whole pictures goes to a different color.

I definitely do not have a "brush" option, so I can figure out what I am supposed to use to "paint away."

Can you still help with a step-by-step? I would be most grateful. I have been trying to figure this out for days. 

[Mark_Sand]

Sorry again!  I have to leave for a while but I'll reply layer this morning with more details.

But for now I want to let you know that the Brush is one of the basic PSE tool found in the toolbar.

The list you mentioned is the Blend Mode list and within this should be the "Color" option. There is no option called "blend".

[SkipII-VFbMkZ]

Okay, Being new, I am not always able to understand that "blend" is

same as "mode" since I am just not into the normal vocabulary of

regular PE users yet.

I double-checked, by the way, and there is no tool on the left side

called "brush" unless it is part of some other tool, is hidden, or is

called something else on the label and routinely referred by users as

a "brush."

I am grateful for any hep you can offer later today.

[SkipII-VFbMkZ]

I have been selecting "color" on past attempts, but it recolors the

whole picture (using paint bucket). It does not allow any texture,

highlights or shadows to come through.

I'm pretty sure I just be needing to make a selection of part of the

image (like I assume you did on the car?)

[Mark_Sand]

OK. Here is a snapshot showing everything I talked about and hopefully it answers you questions.

Keep in  mind that we have different PSEversions so things will look a bit different but the steps should be the same.

The green arrow is the icon in the Layers Palette to add a new blank layer. You can also do Layer > New > Layer.

The purple arrow is the Blending Mode pull-down list (default "Normal") and within this list select "Color". Next to it is the Opacity (default 100%) where you can lower the value to lighten the color.

The black arrow is the Foreground color. Click on this to bring up the Color Picker where you select your color (blue in my example).

The red arrow is the Brush tool. Activate this and paint the car.

Instead of painting you can select the car and do Edit > Fill. In the Fill dialog (shown in the example) select Foreground Color. If you are doing this on the blank layer (Layer 1 in example) you can leave the Blending Mode and Opacity values to their "Normal" and 100% defaults since the layer's values override these.  However if you choose to do the fill on the picture layer then you need to set Blending Mode to "Color" in the Fill dialog box (and optionally lower the Opacity).

Like I said before,  you are better off doing all of this on the blank layer since you can go back and tweak them, whereas changes on the picture layer are permanent.  Also, if you paint or fill too much on the blank layer you can use the Eraser tool (blue arrrow) to remove the excess.

As to your other questions:

The checkerboard pattern on the initial blank layer indicates transparency (i.e., nothing there).

When working on any layer you first click it in the Layers Palette to activate it. In my version the right-half portion of the layer turns to blue, as in Layer 1 in the example. I'm guessing it's the same in your version.

[Mark_Sand]

I should add that there are other ways to change color. I just gave one method. Barbara's method of a Hue/Saturation layer (in your other forum topic  "How to get rid of any crawls on selection ") is probably easier.

[Mark_Sand]

And here is yet another way to change a color. It can be tricky to use but the results are often very satisfactory.

In this example I want to change the red card to blue. I duplicated the Background layer just so that you can see the result.

1. Loosely select the car.

2. Enhance > Adjust Color > Replace Color.  Again, this is in PSE2, the path to Replace Color might be different in your version.

3. Click on the left eyedropper and click somwhere on the car. The red portion will appear as white in the preview box. Adjust the Fuzziness slider to get this as white as possible.

4. If it looks like all of the red is not masked in white, click on the eyedropper with the plus sign to add to the mask and click those additional red areas. You can click either on the picture or on the preview box.

5. Finally adjust Color and Saturation to change to blue.

Note: the reason for initially selecting around the car is so that other red areas, such as the man's shirt, are not changed.