Layers help

I have a picture of my daughter running over a bridge and I would like to convert everything to black and white except my daughter.

I figured that blending layers would do the trick. I have the photo saved as .psd, so I open it as a smart object, then create a copy of it. But every time I try to convert the copy to B&W - it creates it as a new layer. In fact, any edit I do (exposure, levels, curves) it ends up being a new layer.

Can anyone help me out with this one?

Simply duplicate the color layer, change that to B@W, add layer mask to the B@W layer and brush her color back in.

Did it, thanks for the help

It's called "Selective Color"
You don't even need to use layers or a layer mask to achieve that effect, However, it is best to apply any changes to a layer anyways.
All you need to do is convert your image to grayscale or choose Desaturate(Shift-Ctrl-U). Then in the history panel select the point before you converted it, and then use the history brush to brush over where you want to get the color back.

Or if you prefer to use a new layer and layer mask, you can make a selection around the area you want to keep the color in and make a mask from the selection. Then click the Layer thumbnail to make sure the layer and not the mask is activated, then desaturate. Everything except your selection should turn to grayscale.

You can do the same in ACR with the adjustment brush by sliding the saturation slider all the way to the left desaturating the color from the image. Then using a new adjustment brush just brush over the areas you want to bring the color back to or resaturate. You will have to adjust your brush size and feathering, and will also have to crank up the saturation, flow and density..

Google "selective color" for a dozen different ways to achieve the effect. I find it very 80's though.

Geez, I wish I knew about selective color I'm learning, though, I'm learning...

I ended up sandwitching the B&W object between two original objects - if I tried using just one color object - the iage either all turned BW or color:

HTTP response: NOT FOUND | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Redirected to error image by FLICKR

I like that shot and we are all learning. There are wonderful, knowledgeable people on this board that I have learned much from.

Easiest way I've found... use quick select tool or however you want to select what you want to be just in color. Select inverse > Black and white... done!

Zolth wrote in post #12392084
Easiest way I've found... use quick select tool or however you want to select what you want to be just in color. Select inverse > Black and white... done!

Yeah, you telling me now, after sweating over this with layers

Layers is the way to do it non-destructively. If you are doing a project that will last over several session, you definitely want to use layers -- you can make a selection on your background image then just go to an adjustment layer and it will open a layer with a mask and have your selection automatically selected in the mask. You can then invert and desaturate the mask to do the selective color and preserve the selection with color. Simple, and you preserve all your work for future adjustments.