Partial Color on Black and White Background
by Michelle
Q: I have a colored image that I would like to have the background in black and white. However, I would like to maintain the color of the my focal objects (the water lilies). How would you execute this using Elements 8 for Mac? The effect you want to achieve is relatively easy to do in Photoshop Elements. Here are the steps: Step 1 - Duplicate your background layer. Step 2 - Convert layer to black and white. You will get a Dialog box with a preview. Try some of the Styles from the Dialog box and use the sliders if you want to get your black and white version looking good. Click OK. Step 3 - Use the Eraser Tool to bring back color. Click on the Eraser tool from the Toolbox. Press the letter D to make sure your Foreground and Background colors (the 2 big squares at the bottom of the toolbox) are set to their default settings of black and white. Up in the Options Bar make sure Mode is set to Brush and Opacity is set to 100%. Place your cursor over the flowers. Adjust your brush size by pressing the left and right bracket keys (they are located to the right of the letter P) on your keyboard until your brush is the size you want. Now just click and drag to erase away the black and white and let the color show through. That's all there is to it. Here's a look at a version I did using the steps above:
For a slightly different version of this technique see the post black/white with a touch of color. In that tutorial instead of using the Convert to Black and White menu, you just desaturate the layer. And you create a Layer Mask instead of erasing the Layer. It gives you a little more leeway for mistakes when your bringing back the color. If you need more explanation or have more questions on this don't hesitate to post a comment here using the Comment link below. Other readers can join in too! Take care,
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