Modify rim colour

This tutorial will teach you how to modify the colour of the car rims. You need to use Elliptical Marquee tool and various layer styles for this tutorial. I have used a free stock image which is available at: www.sxc.hu

Modify rim colour

Step 1

Open an image of a car in Photoshop

Step 2

Insert a new layer by selecting Layer > New > Layer.
Take the Elliptical Marquee tool and make a selection around the rims. You could alternatively use the polygon lasso tool or the quick mask tool, if you wish.




Step 3

Select paint bucket and fill the selection with your favourite colour. I have used #ffc350, but you can select whatever you wish.




Step 4

Change the blending option to Colour. You can experiment with various settings and choose the blending option you prefer. Then deselect the selection Ctrl + D.




Step 5 – optional

You may have noticed the brake discs and callipers have also changed colour. Use the eraser tool and carefully erase the colour.




You should now have a modify rim colour.

Change colour of car lights

This tutorial will teach you how to change the colour of car lights. You will need to use the polygon lasso tool and the hue/saturation adjustments for this tutorial. I have used a free stock image of a car which is available at: everystockphoto.com

Change colour of car lights

Step 1

Open an image of a car in Photoshop.

Step 2

Select the polygon lasso tool and make a selection around the areas of the lights like below:



**You could use the quick mask tool for this step if you wish.


Step 3

Select Image > Adjustment > Hue/Saturation and adjust the sliders to your liking. I have used 90 for the hue, 27 for the saturation and 10 for the lightness.




Step 4

Select Image > Adjustment > Auto Levels to make the colour of the lights look more realistic. Now deselect the image Ctrl + D.



You should now have a car lights with different colours. If there are still small areas of the colour from the previous lights, you can use the clone stamp tool to clone the areas.


Related tutorials
Censor number plate
Change number plate characters

Add alloy wheels in Photoshop

This tutorial will teach you how to add alloy wheels to a car in Photoshop. This allows you to change the appearance of your wheel rims without costing you any money. I have used free stock images which are available at: www.sxc.hu

Add alloy wheels to a car

Step 1

Open an image of a car and an image of an alloy wheels in Photoshop. I have used an image of car with side profile, but any image of a car should work.

Step 2

Take the Elliptical Marquee tool and make a selection around the alloy wheel. It helps if you hold Alt key while dragging the mouse to make the circular shape.

Now hit Ctrl + X to cut the image then select the image of car and hit Ctrl + V to paste the alloys. Your image should look like below:

Step 3

Select the free transform tool Ctrl + T and hold down the Shift key to reduce the size of the alloy until they fit on the image of the car.



Step 4

Select Ctrl + J to duplicate the alloy layer and move the new alloy into the correct position. You may have to resize the alloy using the free transform tool.



You should now have alloys on your car.

Lowering a car

This tutorial will teach you how to lower a car in Photoshop. You need to use the quick mask tool for this tutorial. I have used a free stock image which is available at: www.sxc.hu

Lowering a car

Step 1

Open an image in Photoshop.

Step 2

Select the brush tool with an appropriate brush size. I have used a brush with a master diameter of 30px. Hit the “Q” key to enter quick mask mode and paint the areas of underneath the wheel arches. The paint area should appear in a red colour like below:



If you make a mistake you can use the eraser tool. Note that when you return to use the paint brush, you do not need to hit the Q key.


Step 3

Now hit the “Q” key again to exit quick mask mode and you should notice that the top part of your image is selected like below:




Step 4

Select Ctrl + J to duplicate the layer then select the move tool (V) and use the down key on the keyboard to control the lowering of the image.



You should now have a lowered car.

Lighting a car

This tutorial will teach you how to add lighting to a car. The lens filter is used for this effect and only two steps are required. I have used a free stock image of car which is available at: www.sxc.hu

Lighting a car

Step 1

Open an image of a car in Photoshop.

Step 2

Select Filter > Render > Lens filter and a window like below should appear. Now move the crosshair of flare center to the centre of the car light like in the image below. Set the brightness to 50% and the lens type to 105mm prime.



Repeat this for the other car light.



You should now have light on the car.

Stretching a car

This tutorial will teach you how to stretch a car in Photoshop. You can use this effect for increasing the length of a car. This effect requires using the rectangular marquee tool and the transform tool. I have used a free stock image of car which is available at: www.sxc.hu

Stretching a car

Step 1

Open an image you wish to stretch in Photoshop.

Step 2

Expand the horizontal length of the canvas by selecting Image > Canvas size then choose an appropriate width. This increases the size of the canvas which gives room for you to stretch the car. I used 500 pixels for the width, but you will need to experiment with your image.


Step 3

Select the Rectangular Marquee tool and make a selection around half of your image, like below:



Now select Ctrl + X to cut the image then select Ctrl + V to paste the image. Your image should now be separated into halves.




Step 4

Select the background layer and then using Rectangular Marquee tool make a selection around your image like below:




Step 5

Select the free transform tool Ctrl + T and drag the handles so it reaches the other part of the car. If you get a message saying “Could not transform the selected…” then you are on the wrong layer, simply select the other layer. To avoid stretch marks drag more of the car from the free transform tool than you need.




You should now have a stretched car.




Try changing the colour of car or even the changing the number plate ?

Change car colour 2

This tutorial will teach you how to change the colour of car using the replace colours. The replace colour is an alternative to using the quick mask feature, but may not work if the colours around the image are similar to the car colour. This is because any colours that are similar to the cars colour are also replaced, so it is advisable to use an image where there are no similar colours to the car. I have used a free stock image which is available at: www.everystockphoto.com

Change car colour using replace colour

Step 1

Open an image in Photoshop. Make sure to use an image that has no similar colours to the cars.


Step 2

Select Image > Adjustment > Replace colour and the replace colour window should appear. Now using the eyedropper tool sample the colour of the car in the image The sampled colour should appear in a square like the following image.

Step 3

Adjust the Fuzziness slider as far to the right as possible, so that the colour in the preview display appears whitish. If the black background in the preview display turns grey then the decrease the fuzziness. I have used a fuzziness of 153, but you will need to experiment with your image.




Step 4

If there are still areas on the preview display within your sample image that look dark. Then use the add area eyedropper to select the areas in your image. The colour on the image you intend to replace will eventually turn a white colour in the preview like below:




Step 5

Now adjust the replacements to a colour of liking. I have used -110 for the hue and +20 for the saturation.



You should now have a car with a different colour.

Censor number plate

This tutorial will teach you how to censor a number plate. You can use this effect hide the characters of a number plates. This is useful if you don’t want anyone knowing your car registration number. I have used a free stock image of a car which is available from: www.everystockphoto.com

Censor number plate

Step 1

Open the image you wish to censor the number plate of.

Step 2

Select the Rectangular Marquee tool or the Polygonal Lasso tool and make a selection around the area you want to censor like below:




Step 3

Now select Filter > Pixelate > Mosaic. I have used 10 for the cell size, but you can experiment with the cell size to get the effect you wish.




You should now have a censor number plate.
Why not checkout the change number plate characters tutorial?

Change number plate characters

This tutorial will teach you how to change the characters of a UK car number plate. The UK number plate has its own font which can be downloaded from Dafont.com. This effect can be used for different car number plates from around the world, but be sure to use the exact font for the number plate. I have used a free stock image of a car which is available at: jupiterimages.com

Change number plate characters

Step 1

Open the image you wish to change the number plate of.

Step 2

Reset the palette by selecting the “D” key.
Select the eyedropper tool and sample an area of the number plate. The colour should appear in the foreground palette.


Step 3

Select the brush tool with an appropriate brush size and the opacity at 50%. Then paint over each characters of the number plate to remove the lettering.



Your image should look something like below:



**You could alternatively use the clone stamp tool for this step if you wish.


Step 4

Select the text tool with the UKNumberPlate font and type some characters on the number plate. The horizontally scale should be set to 100% to ensure the character spacing looks authentic. I have used #3c3c3d colour and 58pt size for the font, but you will need to experiment with your image. Use the original number plate image as a reference for the font colour and the size.




You should now have a number plate with different characters.

Change car colour

This tutorial will teach you how to change the colour of car in Photoshop. This tutorial uses the quick mask to change the colour, but you could also use the replace colour feature if you wish. Changing the colour of the car is useful if you don't like the current colour.

Change car colour using quick mask

Step 1

Open an image of car in Photoshop.
Reset the colour palette by selecting the “D” key

Step 2

Select the brush tool with an appropriate brush size.
Hit the “Q” to enter the quick mask mode and paint over the areas where you want to change the colour. Your image should look like below:



If you make a mistake you can use the eraser to remove the red paint. Or you can alternatively flip the colour palette by selecting the 'X' key and paint in the reverse colour.


Step 3

Hit the “Q” key to exit quick mask mode.
Then hit Select > Inverse and the Ctrl + J. Your image should look like below:




Step 4

Select Image > Adjustments > Hue/saturation and adjust the sliders to your preference. I used hue = -90, saturation = 31 and lightness = 0, but you can experience with the sliders.



You should now have a car with a different colour.

Tutorials

Welcome to my Photoshop car modification blog. I have provided a list of all the tutorials available on this blog. This list will continue to grow so remember to subscribe and leave comments if you have any suggestion for tutorials. To find images of cars, checkout the post on websites for car images.

Tutorials


Change car colour
Change car colour 2
Change car colour 3


Change number plate characters



Censor number plate



Stretching a car



Lighting a car




Lowering a car



Add alloy wheels to a car



Change colour of car lights



Modify rim colour



Add another exhaust to car



Remove background from car image



Chrome car colour



Add smoke to exhaust




Add grill to car



Change colour of car lights



Remove car door handles



Window tint effect



Add hood scoop to car



Clear car lights



Carbon fibre hood



Car movement effect



Adding decals to car



Change car background



Car window tint



Shiny wheel rims


Examples

• Virtual car tuning
• Virtual car tuning 2

Freebies

• 10 free car wallpapers
• Websites for car images