Tint partially transparent image/background - html

Question

How can I tint a background image that has transparent sections?
I have tried using background-blend-mode: multiply with background-image and background-color. It works great for opaque images, but does not take the transparency into account, leaving a colored square around the image.
I am using svg images, and could switch to using <img> instead of backgrounds if necessary.
Example:
Left side is my goal, right side is what I get with background-blend-mode: multiply. The base image is a light gray circle, and I multiplied it with red.
Edit: I created a codepen to better illustrate my problem and what I have tried. http://codepen.io/anon/pen/QbbbpZ It has both the original image and my goal (made in Photoshop) on top, with examples of what I have tried below.
Edit2: I'm beginning to wonder if it is even possible to do this with plain HTML/CSS. Would using something like canvas, maybe with shaders, be more appropriate? Is there a library out there for it?

Answer 1

In webkit (Safari, Chrome and Opera) you can use -webkit-mask-image to do the effect.
html:
<div id="blend-mask" class="uiElement uiBG"></div>
css:
#blend-mask {
-webkit-mask-image: url("http://i.imgur.com/JLjAor5.png");
background-color: #f00;
background-blend-mode: multiply;
}
#goal {
background-image: url("http://i.imgur.com/JLjAor5.png");
}
#pageBG {
width: 400px;
height: 400px;
background-image: url("http://lorempixel.com/g/400/200/");
background-color: rgba(255,0,0,0.25);
background-blend-mode: multiply;
color: white;
text-shadow: 0 0 0.25em black;
}
.uiElement {
width: 100px;
height: 100px;
margin: 25px;
display: inline-block;
}
.uiBG {
background-size: contain;
background-repeat: no-repeat;
background-image: url("http://i.imgur.com/rkRJbzH.png");
}
Example working:
http://codepen.io/anon/pen/vONVry
if you want to make it work as well in firefox check this post maybe will help:
Is there a -moz-mask CSS property, like -webkit-mask-image?
As well you can check using canvas to tint, there is this post that maybe can help:
http://www.playmycode.com/blog/2011/06/realtime-image-tinting-on-html5-canvas/