How to change the dark color of a photo ?

[Chris M]

But you could do the following:

This is one of those times where I'm quite proud of myself. That's the way I thought of doing it but wasn't confident enough to suggest it. Then Boy, with 10 years and 3000+ posts under their belt does the same thing..."yeah, Chris, welcome to the Jedi inner circle."

[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.

[Boy]

This is one of those times where I'm quite proud of myself. That's the way I thought of doing it but wasn't confident enough to suggest it. Then Boy, with 10 years and 3000+ posts under their belt does the same thing..."yeah, Chris, welcome to the Jedi inner circle."

You're doing great, Chris, and should feel proud of all the quality contributions you have already made! By the way, I have such moments as you describe quite often when I feel intimidated or can't be bothered because it is too much work to explain it all.

[gaftalik]

Thank you all for your support and time !

[ss-kalm]

It depends on whether you are recolouring an original photograph, or reusing elements to use in a new composition. If you are recolouring, then the way that Gary suggests also preserves the correct shading in the picture as well, so it still looks natural.

[stygg2003]

There are many ways to change the colour of a dark or light photo and all shown in this thread work quite well. In my examples I changed the tan chair to grey using photo hue tools and brightness levels. There are to many ways to explain them all here.

Stygg

[Boy]

There are many ways to change the colour of a dark or light photo and all shown in this thread work quite well. In my examples I changed the tan chair to grey using photo hue tools and brightness levels. There are to many ways to explain them all here.

Stygg

And so we go round and round. I changed the blue chair into grey and tan and you change the tan one into grey.

[stygg2003]

And so we go round and round. I changed the blue chair into grey and tan and you change the tan one into grey.

Sorry if I offended your colour scheme

Stygg

[Boy]

No, you're quite welcome to it, Stygg, it's like a dance.

[edulofter]

hi
your operation is so useful, it has helped me.
I did it as your operated and reached the effect I wanted

source