Decide which channel looks the best, then put a channel mixer adjustment layer over your picture, and adjust channels to give the best channel 100% of the channel mix, then paint on the adjustment layer with black, and the color will show through the adjustment layer or……
Duplicate your layer, desaturate the top layer, then put a layer mask on it. Anywhere you paint on the layer mask with black, the color layer under it will show through.
Frank, in the layers palette, right click your backgroung and select Dulicate. On the duplicated layer, select all, then Image>Adjust>Desaturate to turn the top layer into lack/white. Now click on the History brush, selct a brush size and just paint the areas where you want the color to be.
Rgds, MM
….or add a layer filled with default black (or white) set to a blending mode of color (or saturation), and erase through this layer to get color.
and there are more ways.
All the above will not produce a single color black (grayscale) with color, but will produce a full-color neutral image with strongly colored areas.
If you want just the single color B&W, that’ll cost more.
or…bring in your color image…duplicate, (for safety so you’re working on only a copy)…go to Image>Mode>Grayscale…(when promted discard color information)…go back to Image>Mode>and switch back to RGB 8 bit (or whatever the original was)…click on the "History" paint brush and paint over the areas you want to bring back to color.
Fran:
There are always at least 3 ways to do anything. I would use none of the above. You can do this:
Create a Hue/Sat adjustment layer and turn down the Sat to zero [whole image goes monochrome]. Now click on the mask thumbnail for the adjustment layer in the layers palette [it will have automatically given you a blank mask].
Now paint on the areas of your picture that you want to be colour again.
This method has the big advantage of being infinitely flexible and undo-able. The reason I sue masks all the time in PS.
That works well Colin, but I’m not sure what would be undo-able about my method. At any rate, like you said, there are many ways to do most anything. I use this more to bring color sections back into duotones instead of B & W and thus I am use to the steps I mentioned. For Duotones it would be Image>Mode>Grayscale…Image>Mode>Duotone… select the duotone colors and then use the "History" paint brush to bring back the original color.
Gordon:
I was not criticising your method or the others suggested – just offering another option.
I have to say that I’m not 100% familiar with the History Brush. Does the history persist indefinitely? The reason why I like my approach is you can close the file and come back later with no fuss.
We all have our preferences and it’s great that PS gives us so many options.
Hopefully Fran will come back to tell us which method works for her [assuming gender – apologies if I’m wrong].
No no, and I wasn’t taking it as a criticism either..I appreciate it. Nothing I enjoy more than finding alternate ways to do things and I like your ideas too. And I wish I could be more help of the nuances of the History brush but I’m not…it was just how this method was originally explained to me and so I’ve pretty much stuck with it. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Colin, I have almost no experience with masks, please elaborate a bit more on your post 5. I’m with you through creating the saturation adjustment layer.
What is the "mask thumbnail for the adjustment layer in the layers palette"? I click on the little icon that is just to the right of the eyeball and looks like a white circle surrounded by gray forming a square (the mask icon, I think). When I do this, I cannot see that it does anything. In fact, clicking on this does not add a new history state. So then I get the paint brush out and paint and nothing happens.
So I try and click on the quick mask icon located in the tool pallet and then try the paint brush and I get red paint, not a reveal of the background colored layer. Please provide a few more details so that us novices can try this. Thanks.
Mike:
On the layers palette, there is a thumbnail for each layer – may be a small image or a graphic signifying an adjustment layer. To the right of this may be another icon [and it should be there automatically when you create an adjustment layer], which is a thumbnail of the mask. This will be plain white to start out with. This is what was suggesting you click on.
If you want to play, you can try ctrl-, shift- and alt-clicks on this icon…
I very strongly recommend getting to grips with masks. They are ultimately very simple, but immensely powerful. Do come back if you’re still not with me.
Colin, thanks for the detail. Voilà! It works. Easy as pie. I agree that I need to learn masks. I have one of those mental blocks about masks and things like that. I’m sure that I could do a lot of things faster if I understood all of tools better. That is why I often read other’s post when I know that I cannot help.
Mike:
I’m the same with paths …
And colour management …
And …
Likewise I can’t figure what can’t be un-done with either method I suggested.
Anyway, you have plenty to go on
Thank you everyone, for your suggestions! It’s nice to have lots of different ways to do this technique. -Fran
