How do I change a color in a jpg file?

[Roger at CCCC]

I"m a newbie to this program, and I'm sure this is answered somewhere but when I put "change color" into the search, I don't get anything that looks relevant.

I have a JPG file that consists of a background color with black text on top of it. But the background color is too dark and I want to lighten it up. I don't want to change the color of the text. Thanks for any help. I would especially appreciate simple instructions to do this.

How could I have found the answer to this question in the tutorials? or is there better place to ask this question? Thanks again.

[david.atwell]

If it's jet black, it shouldn't be affected much by Brightness/Contrast. But if you are really concerned about it, take a look into http://searchpaint.net and type in "conditional hue/saturation" as your search term. :-) Take a look and tell me if you think it'll work!

[Shadow_n]

Or you could try edharveys plugins

Color Channel Flip/Rotate Will help a little, Or learn to use curves perhaps.

viewtopic.php?f=16&t=26244

[Roger at CCCC]

Thanks for your responses. I discovered the "Recolor" tool which actually does what I want, although it is tricky to use. One question about the Recolor tool: is it possible to have the Recolor tool operate on the entire image? I have been able to make it work using a large brush, but I have to "brush" the entire image to get it all to change. It would be simpler to just have the "Recolor" tool work on the whole image automatically. Is that possible, and, if so, how?

Thanks again.

[Boude]

try using an extremely large brush size

[david.atwell]

No. That's why "conditional hue/saturation" was created. :-)

[Roger at CCCC]

Thanks david.atwell, for your comment. I think I understand that "Conditional Hue/Saturation" can in fact change the background color. But is there a way to use the "Color Picker" to specify the color on the color wheel of the "Conditional Hue/Saturation" ?

(By the way, I always have a lot of trouble understanding the tutorials of paint.net. The instructions often seem to be giving helpful suggestions to users who already know how to use the command. But there are often NOT instructions for beginners who don't know anything. That's the way it is with "Conditional Hue/Saturation". The Quick Help doesn't really say what the command actually does or how to use it. That becomes obvious after some experimentation, but it would be better, in my opinion, if the Quick Help actually included a sentence or two that said what the command does.)

[david.atwell]

Take a look at the Newbie Playground inside the Tutorials+ section for basic instructions on operation of Paint.NET. For the plugins, though, well-- that's up to the individual plugin authors.

[Ash]

Thanks david.atwell, for your comment. I think I understand that "Conditional Hue/Saturation" can in fact change the background color. But is there a way to use the "Color Picker" to specify the color on the color wheel of the "Conditional Hue/Saturation" ?

(By the way, I always have a lot of trouble understanding the tutorials of paint.net. The instructions often seem to be giving helpful suggestions to users who already know how to use the command. But there are often NOT instructions for beginners who don't know anything. That's the way it is with "Conditional Hue/Saturation". The Quick Help doesn't really say what the command actually does or how to use it. That becomes obvious after some experimentation, but it would be better, in my opinion, if the Quick Help actually included a sentence or two that said what the command does.)

A color range change will give a more natural look to whatever you want to change.

And press F1 while using Paint.NET will help you learn all the basics, so you will understand tuts easier.

[JamesTom]

You could try to use the "Adjust>Hue-Saturation_Lightness" tool to adjust the overall color of the picture. There really is no easy way to do this, you would have to make selections or masks for each part of the image you want to change and then use the Hue-Saturation-Lightness tool to change the colors.

[david.atwell]

You could try to use the "Adjust>Hue-Saturation_Lightness" tool to adjust the overall color of the picture. There really is no easy way to do this, you would have to make selections or masks for each part of the image you want to change and then use the Hue-Saturation-Lightness tool to change the colors.

That's why Conditional Hue/Saturation is better. :-)