How do I change colors on cars?

Ok I am interested in changing the colors of cars. I.E. I have a 57 Chevy that I am not sure what color I want to paint and would like to use photoshop to help me decide. The only thing I can do is paint it with a flat color I would like to change it right from the actually pic. I can change the hue/ saturation but that also changes the background. Am I supposed to create a layer for the car itself? It seems that when I do that it doesn't do the same color for all of the body. The car right now has different color paint in the jpeg I am using. I could understand if it was just one color that would be easy but I can't seem to do it for multipule colors. But I have seen where guys that have the same color for one particuliar thing be changed for all

The easiest way would be to use the pen tool and draw the out lines of the car exept for the window and lights and so on.
Do this on a different layer than the actual background image that you have the car on...
Then color that shape that you have just done with a color and then change the layer options to multiply or something like that...
Check which one looks best...
Then you can use the hue saturation to go trough the different colors and see which ones suits best.

Did you change from the Master Color to the Color Of The Car? Here is a quick guide, and it will take less than 5 minutes to do. Hue/Sat Change Car Color

Originally posted by Octane.tk
Did you change from the Master Color to the Color Of The Car? Here is a quick guide, and it will take less than 5 minutes to do. Hue/Sat Change Car Color

PLEASE dont post links to a site with that many pop-ups.. lol, it drives me mad.. they just keep popping!

Anyway, as far as the tutorial on that site, its only works on a little amount of images.. See, if the car is blue (or any other color), and have blue ANYWHERE else on the image, that changes too if you do it that way..

Censured alleady told you one of the best way of achieving the best result .. You could also, when done drawing the lines around the car with the pen tool, right click - make selection, and then press CRL+J on your keyboard.. That will make a copy of the selected area on a new layer .. and the simply press CTRL + U, "wing" the "colorize" option, and pull the sliders around untill you feel comfortable with them..

in short:

Hue - This helps you define the colour of the layer.
Saturation - This is the amount of colour used.. The more to the right, the more colour you get.
Lightness - Well, no need to explain really is there? the lightness .. but dont use this one for this sort of thing.. the second you change it you ruin the shadows/highligts of the original image.. Use "Level (CTRL+ L)" or "Curves(CTRL + M)" instead if you have to..


By doing things this way you dont ruin the original image, and you can always change the color, as long as you save the psd file.. (also possible with censured's way), but sometimes multiply doesn work out the way it should (for me anyway) ..

hope it helps

Sorry about the pop-ups, but hey, its a part of life, thats how most people pay for there websites, and also nearly every1 has a little thing called a POP-UP BLOCKER. Try it, it really helps. Thats why i didnt notice the popups. Hehe:D

well, i do at home.. but not a work ;)

Alright thanks guys. I think where I was having the problem was that what I was trying to change colors on was different colors and wanted a solid color paint. If it were all one color like a car it is pretty simple. But I am trying first to get it all one color and like a satin and not just a plain color. So I think that's what was getting me. I'm almost done. Thanks again for your help.

np man

Hey tk I wanna do it for my bike too. How do I keep the holes in the fairings where you see the engine components? And be able to still color the fairings?

To tell you the truth, im not sure right at the moment, just make a new thread and im sure a certified staff member would be happy to help.