Black and white

[Caroleen]

I'm a very new beginner. I have done a tutorial on the internet for layers. Yesterday I was trying to put a color picture (small) on top of a black and white picture (the bigger one). I made sure the layer was active. When I would drag the colored picture onto the black and white one the colored one would change to black and white. I tried every button I know and it still changed the colored picture:confused. Any suggestions? :confused:

[TonyW]

Check Image>Mode for the black and white image. You'll probably find it grayscale. Change it to RGB color and then it should work. When you copied the colored picture onto the B&W one it will take on the mode of the B&W one.

Tony

[Caroleen]

I want the larger one to stay grayscale and the smaller one to stay color. I had the Image-mode to grayscale and the color one to color but when you put the small one on top of the grayscale one it goes grayscale, too. Am I making sense? I want the small one to stay colored.

[TonyW]

Changing the Black and White image to RGB Color won't change it from Black and White back to colour. If it's in Grayscale mode there is no colour information. The only way to show colour (from the other image) is to change the Image Mode you should then have one B&W layer and one colour layer.

Tony

[Caroleen]

Tony, I hate to be so lame brain but I've only been playing with Photoshop for 1 week. When I click on the b/w image - the Image>Mode Grayscale is checked. When I put the color image on the screen the Image>Mode RGB Color is checked. When I try to put the color one on top it turns to grayscale. I'm not trying to be hard to get along with (haha) but just trying to understand what I'm doing wrong.

[TonyW]

Don't worry - it's hard to figure it out when you start. Do this:

Click on the Black and White Image
Image>Mode and click RGB Color (so you change the mode from grayscale to RGB Color). The image won't change but you can now put the color one on top).

Tony

[NYBOB1]

Caroleen,just change the grayscale image to RGB before you move the color image on top of it.

Bob

[Caroleen]

Hey, IT WORKED!!! Thanks so much everyone for all your help. Even though I really don't Understand why it did - it did. I guess I'll figure out later the why's. Oh what fun! This group is so kind to help out. Thanks again. I'm sure I'll have many, many more questions. All of your work is so beautiful - I just can't imagine being able to do some of it. Thanks

[Caroleen]

2 more questions came up. #1 Do you want to flatten it before you apply RGB Color - I didn't but should I have. Next when i went to save it - it ask if I wanted to apply the transformations. I said "YES" should I have?

[TonyW]

Caroleen: Glad it worked - and don't worry - we've all had moments like that. :)

Why it works? You probably started with a color image and converted to black and white by changing the mode to grayscale. Unless you have warning messages turned off you should get a warning that says something like Discard Color Information. If you click OK you really are discarding the Color Info and you can't get it back so it will black and white for ever more even when you change the mode back to RGB color.

BTW there are other (and better) ways to turn a color image into B&W without losing the color information but if you've only been using Elements for a week now is not the time to worry about that!

Tony

[TonyW]

Saw the other two questions. The answers would depend on what you've done but I would guess you chose the right answers. If it looks right then you likely guessed right :)

Tony

[Caroleen]

Thanks Tony for all your help. there is a lot to learn but I'm enjoying it. Can't wait till I can frame something I've done. Do you frame most of yours?

[karen donnybrook]

Colleen,

You wrote "it worked but I don't know why" - do you drive a car? If you do, then you know how to drive but do you know why the engine works? No neither do I - I don't need to know why the engine works, all I need to know is how to make it work. Likewise, I don't need to know why PSE works but just how to make it work ;)

Karen

[Caroleen]

Karen, I guess what I meant by that was I wanted to understand it so if it happens again I'll remember how to fix it. I'm sure I'll never understand Photoshop totally. Thanks -

[TonyW]

Karen: You sound just like my wife when her computer (or her car) doesn't work - "I don't care how it works - just make it work". :D

Tony

[Wendy]

Tony ...

Wow that sounds just like me too :eek: :eek:

Wendy