How to change the dark color of a photo ?

[gwpriester]

gaftalik - You show Xara Photo & Graphic Designer 10 as your software so I am not sure if this works in 10 (I did this in Designer Pro X 16), but if it is available, you can use Levels in the Photo Tool flyout and reduce the Output Levels as shown in my screen shot. This makes the lights a bit darker and the darks a bit lighter. Then create a shape for the colored areas, apply a color then apply Color transparency.

You can play with the percent of transparency as well as adjust the color in the Color Editor. This preserves some of the light and shadow while making it easier to add color.