Cindych,
1. Open image
2. Duplicate background layer
3. Enhance>color>remove color
4. Use eraser over area that you wish to show up in color Ken
Another method:
1. Add a Hue/Saturation layer. Desaturate image by moving Saturation slider all the way left. Click OK.
2. Set Foreground & Background colors to black & white defaults.
3. To add back color, paint area with black.
To remove extra color, paint with white.
Mark, I figured out your first step, however being the person who knows nothing about this program I can figure out how to set the foreground and background colors to black and white default. Can you explain this easier!
Cindy
Cindy,
At the bottom of the Toobox are 2 overlapping squares. If you hold the cursor on them they read "set foreground color" and "set background color". There is also a tiny set of 2 boxes at the lower left of these, and the cursor reads "Default Foreground and Background Colors". Click this to set the defaults: the 2 boxes will change to black (foreground) & white (background). Clicking the double-arrow will switch these to white (foreground) and black (background).
FYI, if you ever want to change the default colors (e.g., to paint with a particular color), you can click the appropriate foreground/background box to bring up the Color Picker.
Mark
Cindy,
An addition to my msg #2:
When painting to remove or add back the color, use a hard brush to get a sharp transition between the color and b&w portions, and a soft brush to get a softer transition. You can also try lowering the Opacity (from the default of 100%) to bring back a duller color; this might be better, for example, if you want the picture to have an antique look.
You can also try Mode options other than the default of ‘Normal’, but there are so many of these you just have to try them to see the results.
Mark
Or just press the D key to set the colors to black and white ( D for default, I suppose). The X key switches foreground and background when you want to change the one you’re painting with at the moment.
I am not having luck. I select new dup layer and do the saturation moving the slider all the way to the left. This gets my picture black and white. Then as far as the foreground and background I understand clicking back and forth on the lower squares. Which one do I need in the front. I am not understanding how to get the color to only one object in the picture. When I click on the paint bucket it paints the whole picture. When I click on the selection brush it just puts a lot of squiggles on the picture no color. I know this is sounding hopeless.
Cindy
Cindy, your problem is that you’re not using the right tool. The paint bucket covers everything–that’s what it’s for, to fill an area with a color. The selection brush is for making selections, not painting. You want the plain old paintbrush tool. Just press B to get it. If it acts weird, click the little black triangle next to the icon and in the popout menu be sure you’ve got the regular brush and not the impressionist brush, which is also in there.
The foreground color is the top left square. As I said in my last post, you don’t need to click to swap foreground/background, just press the X key and they’ll switch for you.
Cindy,
Of course, Mark’s method of setting the fore/background colors is correct — but lazy ol’ me just taps the D key on the keyboard (for Default), which does the same thing…. and a tap of the X key switches the colors with each other, too.
Byron
wrote in message
Or just press the D key to set the colors to black and white ( D for
default, I suppose). The X key switches foreground and background when you want to change the one you’re painting with at the moment.
….I should have read the whole thread before I posted the EXACT SAME THING!!! Sorry Barbara…
Cindy,
You know I had the same problem understanding masking. Sounds like you got a little lost in the directions Mark gave. It’s easy for a beginner to get lost. Okay, so you have your picture open, and you made the Hue/Sat layer and made the photo black and white. You’re lost after that step if I understand you. You should have your photo and a Hue/Sat adjustment layer over it. Make sure the Hue/Sat layer is active. (It’s highlighted in dark gray in the layers palette.) Now make sure the foreground (first) paint color square in the tool box is black. Now, use your paint brush and paint with black anything that you want to remove the black and white from. If you accidentally add color to something you don’t want colored, change the paint brush color to white and paint it back out. The key here is you are painting on the Hue/Sat layer NOT the photo layer.
Terri
Hi, Byron. No prob–great minds think alike. 🙂
Cindy,
Quick and dirty:
If you can select the person that you want to keep in color, make that selection a new layer.Then go back to the layer that has the background and turn that layer into black and white by using the Remove Color option. You can then merge the two layers.
CR
Success! Thank you all. One last question. When painting I have it on the biggest brush, is there a way to fill in large areas faster or is this a slow process?
Cindy
Cindy,
With the Hue/Saturation layer selected you can select the area you want to colorized using the Lasso tool or other selection methods. Then use the Paint Bucket tool to fill in the selection with black.
Cindy,
Since you are new at PSE2, I strongly recommend for beginners the book "Adobe Photoshop Elements 2 Hands-On Training" by Rebenschied and Weinman. If you do a forum search on "books" you will get lots of other recommendations too.
Also, Cindy, you can adjust the size of any brush while you’re using it. Press ] to make it bigger or [ to make it smaller. Just keep tapping till the cursor is the size you want. Or there’s a slider in the Options bar you can use. You can make a brush really big if you want.
