How to color a photo by switching on a layer under it?

[henrico]

Hi, I'm quite familiar with PS, but cannot figure out how to do this.

I want to color a photo of a brown leather shoe by switching on a red layer under it. I need this because a website script works with 2 separate images/layers. The top layer must be a transparent png of the image (the brown shoe) and the layer under this is a solid color. This way you can color a shoe by clicking a button on the webpage.



I tried it using a white shoe on a layer, setting the opacity to 80%, than I used 'Select Color Range' to select the leather of the shoe, than I deleted this selection. This way the shoe keeps the leather look but is kind of transparent. A colored layer under it 'paints' the shoe red while you still see the leather texture on it.
However, this method does not work well with a brown shoe. The texture is very hard to select.
I hope there is an other way to get this working? Remember, this needs to work outside Photoshop on a website script that can only show 2 layers on top of each other. If the script had a luminosity-layer than the problem was solved but it does not support luminosity...


Any help is appreciated!

 

[sprucemagoo1]

What script is it. Is there a working example of this scrip on the internet, as the explanation of what it is you want is open to interpretation.

 

[henrico]

For a working example of the script, see Fancyproductdesigner dot com

Here a simpeler explanation:
-on layer 1 is the shoe
-on layer 2 are the colors
-combined they show a colored shoe

 

[henrico]

Hi Sprucemagoo1, the name of the script is fancyproductdesigner. You can find it on Google.

Here a simple explanation:
-there are 1 layers
-the top layar is a transparant image of a shoe
-the bottom layer is a solid color (or more colors)
-together they render as the colored shoe