Selective color what do you think?

I like the first shot. It really "pops."

Hi Lindsi,

As Ricky Nelson sings in Garden Party, "Ya can't please everyone, so ya got to please yourself". If you like it...DO IT! Conflicting opinions are just that; they don't help you one bit. They just confuse you.

I find selective colouring plays an important part in post processing. It's prime purpose is to isolate a subject from a cluttered and distracting background. You might do this for any number of reasons, but in this case, it helps distinguish Baby's head from the distracting pumpkins in the background and the photo becomes one of those "less is more" situations.

If you wanted to do as Tee Why suggests and just colour the one pumpkin Baby is touching (my preference), then that tells another story; perhaps everything that Baby touches turns to gold...errr...orange..​.errr...you know what I mean.

It can just simply be done for artistic effect alone as Frank Miller did with some scenes in his movie "Sin City". In short, it's a valid technique. Use it, just don't expect everyone to like it. As long as you like it; that's what counts.

Noelle8818 wrote in post #2129340
Here is my favorite way to do selective coloring lately. Though I still think I like the full color best. It's so vibrant. I hope you dont mind I messed with it!

Yeah, I like to sometimes desaturate the background a bit when it is overbearing.

Lindsi wrote in post #2130003
How did you do this?

I use Adobe Elements 2.0. I did it probably just as you did the black and white selective coloring, only instead of doing B&W, I just desaturated the layer, then erased the pumpkins I wanted the original colors to shine through on. I hope this makes sense!

Nice work Lindsi, you done a grand job