Changing the background to black and white but still has color.

[todayswinneris]

I hope that title wasn't confusing...but, I wasn't really sure how else to phrase it.

I've been trying to find new tricks to put on my photos, and especially how to pull off how to make everything black and white except for one item. An example for my photo is that I have a shot of a person wearing sunglasses. I wanted to make the glasses red and the rest of the picture black and white.

Any assistance people could give me would be great.

Thanks!

[tommykjensen]

Have a look at Scottes execellent tutorial on using masking

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=48929

although it is about noise reduction You can use the same masking technique to isolate the objects You want to stay in color and convert the rest.

[todayswinneris]

Thanks. I appreciate it!

[Scottes]

If you use Photoshop CS it might be easier with the History Brush - though there's not as much control. Simply convert to B&W and then use the History Brush to selectively "undo" back the color back.

Or use 2 layers. Duplicate the background layer and convert that layer to B&W. Then use the Eraser to selectively erase the B&W so the color layer shows through. This method, along with the Hstory Brush, can be very selective.

Or use 3 layers... Dupe the BG layer, convert it to B&W, then dupe that layer and hide it. This leaves you with an untouched B&W layer so if you erase too much then you can Clone from the hidden B&W layer back to the "working" B&W layer.


There's probably a dozen ways to do this.... Masking does allow the most control and a great safety net if you mess up. Especially if you use a Reveal All mask using Overlay mode and then very selectively paint the color back in... But that's getting fairly involved.

[PhotosGuy]

DOn't know what the details of the pic are, but you may find that selections are the key to making your conversion, so for some hints see:
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=39994