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What is this?Selective Colour
Selective coloring is a favorite technique of photographers. Here’s how to do it.
With the adoption of digital technology both in the camera, and in post processing, the possibilities for a photographer have increased at an amazing rate. Similar to when the Wizard of Oz introduced color into a monochrome film; photographers can now create a beautiful hybrid print, exploiting the classic look of black and white with selective splashes of color. This is a relevant example of how digital technology does not simply take over an older medium, but instead compliments it by making artistic expression more attainable.
Below I describe one technique, which can be employed to create an image like the one in this tutorial. Like many processes in Photoshop, there are multiple combinations that can lead to the same end result. Whichever technique you use, it is important to play with it until you get the desired look. For many selective color processes, hand selecting a portion of the image and then de-saturating everything else is required. This can be very tedious but sometimes necessary. I’m going to show you how to achieve a similar look, when there is one single color you want to retain (e.g., a red stop sign, a piece of clothing, or flower petals as you see here). Obviously in this image it would have been time prohibitive to manually select each flower petal. Instead, try the following:
- Open the image and create a duplicate layer
- Choose “select,” “color range…,” and choose “sampled colors” from the dialog box.
- Use the eyedropper and select the color you want to retain.
- Using the “fuzziness” slider you can control how much of the color you intend to retain. This is important when the chosen color appears in other areas of the photo. As an example the blond hair in this image required my selection to have a lower tolerance (fuzziness). 5. Once you are happy with the preview screen, hit “okay.”
- From the selection you have created, copy it to a new layer (command + J)
- Now go the previous layer and de-saturate the image (image, adjustments, desaturate).
Provided the top layer is active, you can now see the color you have retained on top of a black and white image. - Adjust opacity and any other settings to your liking.
- You can also re-select your colored selection and easily “replace” the color to change the original color.
