Changing black colors to golden colors

[nice2meetyou]

Hey,
have a photo of a collectible which mainly has two color schemes - black and golden. Now I became aware that this collectibe is also existent in just golden color. As I do not own the object I cannot make a new photo, that is why I want to change the black color portions to just golden.

I have tried so much options but needed to give up.

What is the trick?

Regards, Manfred

PS: Have added two attachments... one showing just the black one... and the other shows on the left-hand side the golden one.

[LeviFiction]

The first problem is that black isn't a color it is a tone. It deals with lightness/brightness/value. I can change the color to something more gold-like, but it'll just look like a color cast because it'll still be black. Second problem is the texture, the black is enamel while gold is also a metal not just a color, it has a metallic surface texture and reflects the light of the environment.

Your best bet is to replace the enamel area altogether and replace it with another photo of an actual gold/brass metal. I have made a quick simple example here, see attached, I used a picture of a blank brass plate from Granger as the background.

I put the brass plate beneath the picture of the pin. Then on the Pin layer I used the "Blend Ranges" to remove the majority of the black tone. It wasn't perfect, but it was close. I then went in and cleaned up the areas around the text using the eraser because the lingering black splotches made it look like the text was hovering above the background. I could still do a lot more to clean it up, but this is only for demonstration purposes.

GoldPin.jpg (32.07 KiB) Viewed 454 times

Find a more suitable background than the one I picked of course. You want to make sure the highlights more ore less match the pin.

So the steps to get this were as follows:
1) Open Pin image
2) Duplicate pin layer
3) Copy in new brass/gold image to use as new background (arrange and resize so highlights generally match)
4) Move new background below duplicate pin layer
My layer's palette now looks something like this

Screenshot 2024-01-30 151139.png (21.33 KiB) Viewed 454 times

5) Double click the pin layer to bring up the layer properties, and select the "Blend ranges" tab
6) In the top bar labeled "This layer" move the top and bottom arrows from the black end closer to the middle. This will tell it to hide the black areas of the pin. Make sure the top arrows is further ahead than the bottom one so it's a gradual change

Screenshot 2024-01-30 151302.png (6.49 KiB) Viewed 454 times

7) Use the eraser on the pin layer (small brush head with a hardness of zero) around the text to get rid of lingering shadows that make the text look like it's floating above the background.

[nice2meetyou]

Wow,
Thanks a lot for this very detailed response incl sample and step-by-step guidance. Your expertise proofs me that my PSP skill level is much lower than I thought ´. I need to block a slot in my calender trying to practice all this.

Best regards, Manfred

[flagpole]

The first problem is that black isn't a color it is a tone. It deals with lightness/brightness/value. I can change the color to something more gold-like, but it'll just look like a color cast because it'll still be black. Second problem is the texture, the black is enamel while gold is also a metal not just a color, it has a metallic surface texture and reflects the light of the environment.
......

As the forum is about to close I wanted to say how amazed I am by how much work you're willing to do for nothing...

[User10232023]

As the forum is about to close I wanted to say how amazed I am by how much work you're willing to do for nothing...

That's actually how much of the internet was back in the 90s, and these forums they'll show steps on how to do something.
Very sad this forum is closing too, amazing forum with people who appear to believe in that old proverb...

Give a person a finished image, and they'll be happy for a day.
Teach a person how to use image editing software, and they'll make cool artwork for a lifetime.