Let’s suppose I’m looking at a bird’s-eye cityscape in MS Paint, whether it’s just a random photo, or maybe even a screenshot from Bing Maps or Google Earth. If I wanted to change the color of one building, is it possible? Or for an even more demanding objective, let’s say I wanted to change the dark bronze domes of Griffith Observatory to gold, like the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem? This is what I mean by “aspect”–it involves changing not just the color but also the degree of reflectivity.
I think you basically want to ‘tint’ a selection, as if you’d placed a colored lens over it. The highlights and shadows are still represented, but the color overlayed.
Anyway, no, you can’t do that in Paint. In just about any decent photo editor you can indeed do this, although making it look realistic would take some skill. But to the best of my knowledge, Paint doesn’t do that.
PS: here’s an example of what I think you’re looking for, using Photoshop Elements. The color of a car is changed from orange to red while keeping the highlights/shadows intact.