How to change icon color in Adobe Photoshop Elements
I like icons. I think icons are the most important part of design. Most of the times icons I use are one colored and I just want to change their color. The simple solution is to make selection with magic wand and fill in the required color. However, this does not preserve color variations that make icon smooth with small shadow effect. So for better effect I use layer mask to convert the color. For example, let's take an icon:
Because the background is one color, magic wand can remove background nicely.
The next step is to convert current color to black by selecting "Enhance" > "Remove color", then "Enhance" > "Auto color correction".
Because layer mask will show through the lighter colors we need to invert image to make our icon white. "Filter" > "Adjustments" > "Invert".
You can see that the edges are darker with some gradient. This preserves the original icon shadow making it look smooth. Then you need to create a new layer. Fill it with the desired color. And add a layer mask to the new layer.
Select the layer mask (Option+click) and fill it with the solid black color. Select the original layer, Select All, Copy. Select the layer mask and paste copied image.
Copied white image will show through the original color.
Check out how nice edges look!