Before I bought my used 03 Accord EX coupe I looked at the 05 Mazda3. One of the features I liked about the interior (also saw this on the Lexus SC430) was the option to get a rich, deep brown leather. Against the black and chrome interior trim pieces (plastic) the dep brown looked so sophisticated and classy. But, alas, I bought the Accord and have never regretted a day of doing so. But I'm thinking at some point due to excessive wear I'll want to replace the leather. So I'm hoping some of you Photoshop experts can take the interior photos I've attached and give the interior a rich, deep brown leather rather than its current black. Only change color where leather is present, not plastic or chrome pieces. Keep them as is.

Thanks!

I'll try to change it and get back to you with the pic. May take me until tommorrow, I got a busy day today.

I'll try to change it and get back to you with the pic. May take me until tommorrow, I got a busy day today.
Thanks! Take your time. No rush.

Black is hard to work with...if I have time I'll give it a shot but I doubt it (and I'd call myself an amateur, really no good at this stuff :D )

The only brown interior pics that I found for the Mazda 3 showed sort of a medium tan color so that's what I used.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v359/overedline/MAZDA3leather.jpg
here it is with the door insert made of leather (wasn't sure if it is)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v359/overedline/MAZDA3leather2.jpg

First, nice job with Photoshop! How do you do it where you keep the light reflection the way it is without painting over the top of it?

Second, what does everyone think of the brown? Actually, it doesn't look as good as I thought it might. I think Photoshop and 04blkpearlcoupe just saved me a bunch of money.

Copy the part where you want to change the color, paste it back in the same spot. Then desaturate (sometimes unnecessary, case by case), and play with color balance, contrast, brightness, etc. You can play with levels and stuff too, I don't do that too often...I end up botching it. At least that's how I do it. Works great for changing the color of car bodies too. The reason you want to copy and paste is that you can change the whole area and erase parts that you don't want colored (like cut out the whole car body, then erase windows, grill, headlights, etc)...then the original color will show up underneath.

Black leather is sexy...why brown? Hehe guess that's just me

First, nice job with Photoshop! How do you do it where you keep the light reflection the way it is without painting over the top of it?

Second, what does everyone think of the brown? Actually, it doesn't look as good as I thought it might. I think Photoshop and 04blkpearlcoupe just saved me a bunch of money.
you're welcome. :) to change the color of an object, i carefully select it, then in the hue/saturation/lightness dialog box i use the hue slider to find a color that is close to what i want (if the object is gray you can click the 'colorize' checkbox to add color to it. this method will retain the contrast, etc.). after that i play with the color balance tool or channel mixer, and maybe adjust the levels to fine tune the color.

and as Benjiboy said, it might be a good idea to copy and paste the selected area before working on it just in case you don't like the results, or to preserve the original.

here is the mazda 3 interior, just for reference sake.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v359/overedline/mazda3interior.jpg

I can't put my finger on it, but the brown looks a ton better in the Mazda than it does in the Accord. I think I'm going to stick with the black.