tinting NOT toning a photo in Photoshop?

That seems like a specific definition for a term that likely isn't so strictly defined. You also haven't told us what you define as "tinting". In Photoshop, colors are highly interchangeable, and there are many ways to go about changing them.

Adjustments: In the Image menu > Adjustments section, there are plenty of commands here that quickly change colors in various ways:

- Curves is the 'catch-all' command that does practically everything the other commands can (except maybe Threshold).

- Using the Hue/Saturation command with the Colorize option is a quick-and-dirty way to force a specific hue.

- Color Balance might be helpful in cases where you want dark regions to be a certain hue while lighter colors are a different hue.

- Gradient Map is also a handy adjustment that lets you choose regions of color by defining a gradient.

Layer Blending: You can use another layer along with layer blending modes to adjust layers beneath. The 'Multiply' blending mode will leave pure black as it is, but mix and darken all other color values. The 'Screen' blending mode lightens everything but pure white. The modes grouped with these give slightly different results or have various side effects. You can paint in the colors to be used with the painting tools, or pick a single color by using a Solid Color Fill Layer.

Those tutorials you passed up might still be helpful if you choose different options. If it says to set something to 'Lighten' mode, try using other modes such as 'Overlay' or 'Hard Light' instead.