Changing Metal Colors

[LadyJaine]

Since it seems that everyone who has the Adobe kit thinks that silver would be better than the metal supplied, here's how you can change a metal color.

I am using CS3. I'd love to have CS5, but that won't happen for a while yet....

Did you know that you can select an area and then apply a layer style only to that selected area? What a concept. There are metal styles pre-created in Photoshop, but you won't need that, as you are already working with something that is metal. Open the Layer Styles Dialog box. Right click on the layer in the Layers Palette and select "Blending Options." I have no idea why Blending Options=Layer Style, but it does...

You'll be adding a Color Overlay. To select the color, click on the box of color to the right of the Blend Mode drop down box. The Blend Mode should be Normal. Go to the blue section, select a gray with a teeny tiny amount of blue in it and click. If you have the preview selected, you can see the results before you close the layer style box.

Layer Style Color Overlay

Layer Style.jpg (89.82 KiB) Viewed 593 times

To make something metal that wasn't metal in the first place, use Curves. Ctrl + M will open the Curves Dialog box. You'll see a diagonal line going from bottom left to top right. Click on the line near the left side and move that point up. Click a little further along and pull down. Move over a bit and drag up. What you are trying to create is a curved zig-zag line moving upwards from bottom left to upper right, ending with an up. Don't kill yourself making little curves. You only need three peaks and three valleys. The sample I'm including isn't quite right, I got carried away. But it is a sample.

Curves example.

curves.jpg (91.07 KiB) Viewed 593 times

[azemigh]

Thanks Jean!!!

[pbp908]

I'm constantly changing metallic hues but never tried that method. I always did it with hue, saturation and color balance. I think your way might be a time-saver.

[fuzzylover]

I have Elements - so it's a little different - but I'm going to try as I agree - Silver is so much more appropriate for southwest designs.