PS How do I add color to a black and white image

[Dirty Shirt]

Lets say with the attached picture I wanted to have the eyes just in color. How would I do that?

[Fer]

1. Select just the eyes with the pen tool.
2. Save the path.
3. Convert the path to selection.
4. Slect inverse selection.
5. Go to saturation box and desaturate the image.
6. Select inverse selection again.
7. Add more magenta and cian to the eyes.

I did it, it's not quite ok, but here is what they could look like:

[Dirty Shirt]

Thanks Fer!

[caesars0331]

Also, you could desaturate the whole image and then use the history brush to paint back over the eyes.

[drewmk2]

Duplicate the layer, make the top one BW, and just erase over the eyes to reveal the color with a soft brush.

[RAitch]

The eraser isn't a great tool for making edits like this. It's hard to undo anything you do.

Layer masks work WAY better. Learn to use them.

[tim]

There are loads of different ways to do the same thing in Photoshop. It's a very powerful, very complex tool.

[toddb]

Or if the original was B&W, create a layer on top and turn the layer mode to color. Paint over, using different colors...vary the opacity for different results. Kind of like Technicolor.

[DJShuttering]

Resurrecting a very old thread here. I just got Photoshop Elements 5.0 today and am trying to convert a color image to B&W and then make the eyes back to color. I read the instructions above, but they are currently Greek to me. Can anybody help me please? :)

[lecherro]

Heres a go...

I created two new layers.
Top layer taken to B&W and adjusted to get darker contrast.
Layer mask to reveal eyes underneath.

Next Layer down. tweaked to get color blue I wanted, used curves...

And made layer at very top to vignette.
Black layer, cut out oval in middle
Gaussian blur set at max
Adjust transparency to taste

http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc180/lecherro69/OPP/Eyes.png

[DJShuttering]

Here is the picture I am trying to edit. :)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v253/DIMEMinistries/200805260923.jpg

[Sorarse]

Create a duplicate on another layer.
Make the duplicate layer b&w, adjusting contrast etc as necessary to give you the b&w image you are looking for.
Add a layer mask to the duplicate (b&w) layer.
Using an appropriate sized brush on the layer mask, paint over the eyes using black as a colour, to allow the original (still colour) layer to show through.
If you make a mistake, select white to make any required corrections.

HTH

[soulkeeper]

Here is the picture I am trying to edit. :)



The only problem I see with this picture is her eyes. The color of her eyes won't stand out on a black & white picture, so the only option is to change the levels and even change color of the eyes to make them stand out.
Here's what I did.

1- Duplicated the layer
2- Made a small selection on one of the eyes and pressed Q to enter quickmask
3- Using the brush tool with a hardness of 96 I and with foreground color in white I painted the both eyes (not painted but removed the redish color) and used black to paint the redish back wherever i removed the redish somewhere more than the eye.
4- Pressed Q to exit the quickmask
5- Pressed Ctrl Shift I to invert the selection and pressed Ctrl Shirt U to desaturate the selection
6- Ctrl L to change the levels
7- Ctrl Shift I to select back the eyes and then Ctrl U to change the color of the eyes
(maybe this are more steps than what the other users said here, but this are the fastest steps for me to get this done)

Here are the three mods I did

With the same eyes color
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a313/gothbackg/Misc/200805260923copy.jpg

With the eyes more blue
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a313/gothbackg/Misc/200803copy.jpg

with the eyes more green
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a313/gothbackg/Misc/20080y.jpg

[Souwalker]

Duplicate the layer, make the top one BW, and just erase over the eyes to reveal the color with a soft brush.


That's how I do it. I learned it from a video on utube.
pat

[griptape]

For me, it's layer masks all the way. You'll never go back to the eraser (or god forbid, the magic wand) once you're comfortable with layer masks.

1. Duplicate your layer (I ALWAYS do this first, no matter what).
2. Do your black and white conversion.
3. Click on the button that looks like this http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m235/nothingisworking/layermask2.jpg

4. On the mask, that looks like this: http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m235/nothingisworking/layermask3.jpg

Take a black paint brush, and paint over the area you want to erase (appropriate pixel size, and I personally leave hardness at zero the majority of the time).

Ctrl A (select all) Ctrl Shift C (copy all layers) Ctrl V (paste as new layer) and Ctrl Shift S (save image as) and you're done. Save the .psd file if you think you might edit it later, may save you some time.

http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m235/nothingisworking/layermask.jpg

[Plant McCloud]

Or if the original was B&W, create a layer on top and turn the layer mode to color. Paint over, using different colors...vary the opacity for different results. Kind of like Technicolor.

A question about this. The layer is set to color mode, but when you select the brush, should you set the brush itself to color or to normal?