Photoshop Elements 4.0 question...

[wakeme2008]

I am not a Photoshop person but only use it for the most basic things.

What I am looking for is a simple way to change one color to another. Here is what I am looking to do. I will have a picture of a cruise ship and I want to change the white of the hull to another color. Is there any tools other than paint can to do this.

Thanks in Advance.

[JeffR]

1. One of the great things about Photoshop is that it provides

different ways to accomplish the same task. My understanding is that Elements is slicker and smarter than my full but dated version of the program, so there may be shortcuts to achieving this that I'm not aware of.

There are at least two basic ways to attack the problem. The simplest is to create a duplicate layer, a copy of the image, and work on that. The second and better way is an adjustment layer which doesn't contain image data, but simply affects the final appearance of the layer underneath it.

One way or the other, you need to select the hull if that's all you want to change. There are lots of options for making that selection. If the white of the hull is pretty much solid white, you may be able to make the selection most easily with the magic wand tool. For better control, the lasso or magnetic lasso tool is preferable. The selection can be feathered to ensure that it doesn't have any sharp edges, though if the hull in the pic has sharp edges itself, this might not be a concern.

Anyway, once you make that selection, I believe Elements allows the option of saving it as a sort of fail-safe point, in case you have to unselect it and want to go back to it later. Once you have your selection, you can alter it in many ways. Image>Adjust>Hue/Saturation might be your best bet in this case.

If none of this is helpful - and each of these things can get really complicated really fast - try simply making a new layer above the original, fill it with whatever color you want the hull to be, adjust its transparency down to where you can make out the original layer through it (maybe somewhere between 25%-40%) and erase everything in the new layer outside the hull area. Then re-adjust the transparency of your new layer until you get a result that looks acceptable. If the image is a fairly simple one, you should be able to pull off this method. It's crude and a little cumbersome, and purists would scoff, but if you're new to Photoshop this might be the quickest way to get where you want with the picture.

[wakeme2008]

2. thanks for the help

I will try this tonight

Thanks again..

[JeffR]

3. Well, I hope this helps

It's pretty inarticulate advice. Check back here if you run into snags. There are much more knowledgeable and articulate people here who can help.

[priller]

4. Use the "Replace Color" command

On the Mac, look under the "Enhance" menu, select "Adjust Color" menu item, then select the "Replace Color..." sub-menu item. That's probably the best way to change one color into another.

Also, it's probably best to try and select the area you want to change before doing the Replace Color, to prevent changing other areas of the image that just happen to have the same color.

[wakeme2008]

5. thanks

:)