Replacing colors in images means selecting a particular object, even in photographs, and changing its color precisely, without touching the others. For this particular photo editing activity, quite simple, you can use some free programs such as GIMP and Paint.net which are universally recognized among the best image and photo editing editors, which allow you to accurately select the contiguous borders (i.e. common two elements) within the images so that the color of the area indicated can be replaced. In this guide, therefore, we not only see the programs to be used to replace the colors in the images, but also how to actually do it through these tools.
1) GIMP, the open source "Photoshop"
Gimp is the most known and valid free program to replace Photoshop, which allows you to perform all the photo editing operations and also to replace the colors in the images. There are two selection tools to do this, the Color Tool and the one called Fuzzy selection (magic wand).
After loading the image, select the selection tool from the toolbar and click on the image the color you want to replace. After the border of that color is highlighted, use the Foreground and Background Color selection tool to select the color to be used in the replacement and, finally, use the Fill tool to be able to then click on the selected page. The color is then automatically replaced as soon as you click on it. You can also do this with the color selection tool, which is located in the toolbox next to the Fuzzy.
After selecting this tool, click on the color you want to change and, automatically, GIMP will select all parts of the image with that color. Then select the replacement color and use the fill button.
2) PhotoFiltre is an excellent image editor designed especially for color operations (for example to highlight a color in a photo, converted to black and white) and, therefore, particularly convenient for replacing colors. Specifically, it includes two tools to do this, the one to replace the color and the magic wand tool. After loading the image into the program, the replacement tool is located on the Adjust tab on the main interface. A small window is then displayed where you can choose Color 1 and Color 2 and press OK. This tool replaces all parts of the image with the selected color at one time.
If you use the Magic Wand or Magic Wand from the toolbox you can click on the color you want to change and the color to use, then using the Fill or Fill tool.
3) Paint.Net
With Paint.Net you can easily perform almost all Photoshop graphics and photo retouching operations and it is quite simple to replace colors in an image. You can use the magic wand tool, on the toolbar, which allows you to select an area of a color and then replace it with another from the window that appears in the foreground. After that use the bucket tool (the filler) to fill the selected region with color.
If you want you can also use a color replacement plugin that you can download from here.
The plugin is a DLL file which must then be copied to the Paint.net installation folder. Once the plugin is installed, load the image on which you want to replace the color and use the color picker. Then go to the Effects tab to find the replacement button.
Paint.net also has an internal tool called Recolor which can be used to replace colors with the advantage of controlling which areas of the image need to be changed.
To change colors in more complex photos, for example to color an eye differently, I suggest following this tutorial on Youtube.
4) Pint
For those who have difficulties with other programs, you can download Pinta, a simple automatic tool that allows you to easily replace colors by selecting the area and using first the magic wand and then the filling or bucket tool.
5) Color Surprise is a small free program for Windows PC that simply serves to change the colors in a photo or any image in a random way. Basically it is based on various hue patterns and creates coherent color mixes that can enhance the photo with a click. This is not an image editor that allows you to choose which filters to use, but also a fun program to experiment with various color effects on your images.
When the program starts, press the Open button at the top right to open an image from the computer and then press the Randomize button to color it as you wish. You can press the Randomize button as many times as you want, until you find the right color. The program then allows you to save the photo, copy it to the clipboard to paste it somewhere, print it and zoom it. The program allows you to save the image in JPG, PNG, GIF, PCX, BMP and TGA. The Revert key is used to return to the previous coloring.
Color Surpirse is certainly not a complex tool with many effects and photographic filters, but only a simple tool to color photos and images in ways other than normal, quickly and automatically.
READ ALSO: Correct the colors in the photos (hue, saturation, curves and levels) with Photoshop, Gimp or Paint.net
