B&W with soft brown tinge effect

[dmeltesen]

I really love these pictures & have noticed with these & others from other photographers that some of their pics are B&W while others are B&W with a tinge of brown.

Can you advise how this look of the tinge of brown is being added in (excluding the painted in pink & blue) I would really like to know.

http://nordstromphoto.typepad.com/blog/photography/index.html

[Byron Gale]

dmeltesen,

Here's one way to go about it...

First of all, I don't think the underlying image is B/W - I think I see faint color there. Working to get that look, I would add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer, click "Colorize", and then fiddle with the settings to get a monochrome image the way you would like it.

After accepting the Hue/Sat settings, lower that layer's opacity just enough to allow a hint of the original color to show back through. You can go back into the Hue/Sat layer to tweak the settings if your opinion changes after you let some color back in.

If you truly want to start with a B/W, the same technique should work but you won't need to lower the Hue/Sat opacity because there won't be any underlying color.

I expect you will get plenty of other opinions as to how to get this look - it should be an interesting topic!

HTH,

Byron

[dmeltesen]

I'm sorry, I meant to say the picture is originally in color but is turned B&W with a tint of brown or so it seams to have a light toffee appearance.

Then the light pink & blue hues are painted back in obviously. But was curious..... like you said how to get the "slight" brown color in the picture....to make it look "angel like"

but ya, any advise how to achieve this look...I welcome any ideas.

[L.J. DeRosier]

Not sure if I understand, or if this helps...are you looking for Sepia tones on one of the layers?

[AngelicKim]

I could be wrong but it sounds like you are trying to get a sepia tone. You can duplicate your background and change the new layer to sepia and reduce the opacity to get the color you want. You can then add a slight gaussian blur to get the angelic soft focus look.

[JulieM]

Hey, Byron, thanks for the mini-tut! Added a blur layer per Kim's suggestion and I liked the result:

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1WeOm4Vs0RGSdaCjaPcXyBTpDmciHT_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1WeOm4Vs0RGSdaCjaPcXyBTpDmciHT)

Might not be what DMeltesen wanted, but it was fun!

[kimi_boo]

I am assuming that you have Elements? :o

Go to

Photo Effects, Image Effects, Sepia Tone. :)

You may want to make a duplicate of your black and white layer in case you want to lower the opacity on your sepia layer.

Do give us some feedback on the suggestions. :D

[dmeltesen]

I'm not sure if want sepia or not. As by looking at the photos...the appearance of brown is slightly there. Whether it is...i don't know. So merely just wanting to try to achieve the look.

i'm having a baby in 3 weeks. :) So would love to know how to do this. hee hee

D

[graficalicus]

the Photo Tint action in my B&W Conversion Lab works this way:

Create a Hue / Saturation adjustment above the original image / background layer. Pull the Saturation slider almost all the way to the left to remove *most* of the color.

Create a solid color adjustment layer and choose a brown you like. Change the Blend Mode of the color layer to Hue (for a very subtle effect), Soft Light (for a bit more of the effect) or Color (for a strong effect - I recommend toning down the opacity of the color layer if you go with this option)

Save the file as a .psd. The beauty of using Adjustment layers is that you can always easily change your mind and make it blue or green or red, and you can add or remove more Saturation whenever you want. If you save as a PSD, you can always have access to these adjustments at any time.

[deedeeO]

Wow!!! Gorgeous!! I'm a BWoholic and I'm just in love with Lori Nordstorm's technique!! Thanks for sharing. off to play!!!

btw, when I convert, I use and play with all the suggestions mentioned as well. It is always best to create this colored layer above your converted bw.....a way to get the selective coloring, as Lori did, is to duplicate your edited colored image....take the duplicate layer and convert to BW by whatever means you like. apply the colored tone layer over your BW, adjust the opacity of the color tone (usually 50% and less....sometimes better to go as far down as 25% for a subtle coloring). Once satisfied, merger your color tone and BW layers. Create a duplicate of your merged layer....hide one of them (usually the topmost)....the reason...just in case you goof during selective coloring..... with your unhidden merged colored toned BW layer, start erasing the portions that you want colored. Note, to get a muted color look, you may have to add an additional saturation/hue layer (decrease saturation until you achieve the muted coloring that you like) right above your colored layer and your BW color toned layer.

Good luck with your delivery!! and congrats!!!

[dmeltesen]

Let me know if you have good results. :) I would really love to know.

[AngelicKim]

Congrats on the upcoming birth.

I am not sure what your last post meant. Denise was explaining what she does to achieve the effect. Click on the Mommy and Me link or her gallery link and you will see some of her awesome creations.

[dmeltesen]

OK I'm lost. :)

I have the color B&W that i want to achieve, now I can't get original colors back into the pic for selective color.... For instance pink on the little girls shirt from original photo. Picture is in my gallery (shirt is actually pink but I can't get the color back into it) HA HA Photoshop newbie. Sorry.

So with this info below...what am I doing wrong?

Here is the order of my layers top to bottom

1 - Color layer (Set to Hue with opacity set to 100% RGB 9c9086)

2 - Saturation layer. (colorize checked & saturation brought all the way down to 4)

3- Levels (I used this to make the picture more angel like (0, 1.5, 230) & (0, 255)

4 - Contrast Layer (set to +10)

5 - Original background photo. Very colorful, little girl has pink shirt.

[deedeeO]

OK I'm lost. :)

I have the color B&W that i want to achieve, now I can't get original colors back into the pic for selective color.... For instance pink on the little girls shirt from original photo. Picture is in my gallery (shirt is actually pink but I can't get the color back into it) HA HA Photoshop newbie. Sorry.

So with this info below...what am I doing wrong?

Here is the order of my layers top to bottom

1 - Color layer (Set to Hue with opacity set to 100% RGB 9c9086)

2 - Saturation layer. (colorize checked & saturation brought all the way down to 4)

3- Levels (I used this to make the picture more angel like (0, 1.5, 230) & (0, 255)

4 - Contrast Layer (set to +10)

5 - Original background photo. Very colorful, little girl has pink shirt.

I'm doing this without opening PSE...going to have to wait til the morning to test this....
This is how I would layer everything....kind of backwards...going from bottom up....

1. Original background photo...

2. Original background photo copy...convert this to BW directly through enhancements...if you have PSEv5, use the convert to BW feature..I usually click on red increase 2x and blue increase 1 - 2x. Adjust as necessary to get nice contrast and varience in your greys within your image. If not, that is what layer 3 is for....

3. Saturation layer ( above)....

if using saturation to convert the image, merge layers 2 and 3.

now back to 3...

3. Levels

4. Contrast

5. Color layer.....

To achieve selective coloring....take layer 2, duplicate it (for sake of mistakes) and hide the duplicate just in case you made a mistake...beats pressing control-Z a dozen times. Take your open layer 2 and begin erasing the part of the image to show the pink shirt... I like to use a soft round brush.

Now if the pink is too bright and you would like to mute it a bit, insert a saturation/hue layer between 1 and 2, and decrease the saturation.

oohh, the pink and chocolate colors are going to look wonderful together.

My mommy's helper is coming tomorrow morning, so I'll have some uninterrupted time to help you out with PSE open......

[graficalicus]

use the masks that all of those adjustments created for you to bring back color.

Start in the Hue/Sat adjustment and click the mask in the layers palette to make it active (it'll have a border around it in the palette when selected)

Now with the mask active, paint black to reveal the color. Reduce the opacity of the brush you're using to 50% (or even less) to build up the effect rather than make the mask all at once. Also remember when painting that [ & ] increase/decrease brush size, and { & } increase / decrease edge softness.

[dmeltesen]

I will play tonight. Thanks so much for your help!!! I will post back with my results. :)

I'm having a baby girl so I'm all excited about photos coming up. So yes, the pink & choc tinge is what I'm looking for. So my camera bag & all its contents is going to the hospital.

So yes, I'm tickled pink for your assistance...... I have other techniques that I have questions with but tackling '1' at a time. HA HA

THANKS!

D

[deedeeO]

use the masks that all of those adjustments created for you to bring back color.

Start in the Hue/Sat adjustment and click the mask in the layers palette to make it active (it'll have a border around it in the palette when selected)

Now with the mask active, paint black to reveal the color. Reduce the opacity of the brush you're using to 50% (or even less) to build up the effect rather than make the mask all at once. Also remember when painting that [ & ] increase/decrease brush size, and { & } increase / decrease edge softness.

Good good point Grafi.....this method is much more productive and less destructive;)

[deedeeO]

I'm doing this without opening PSE...going to have to wait til the morning to test this....
This is how I would layer everything....kind of backwards...going from bottom up....

1. Original background photo...

2. Original background photo copy...convert this to BW directly through enhancements...if you have PSEv5, use the convert to BW feature..I usually click on red increase 2x and blue increase 1 - 2x. Adjust as necessary to get nice contrast and varience in your greys within your image. If not, that is what layer 3 is for....

3. Saturation layer ( above)....

if using saturation to convert the image, merge layers 2 and 3.

now back to 3...

3. Levels

4. Contrast

5. Color layer.....

To achieve selective coloring....take layer 2, duplicate it (for sake of mistakes) and hide the duplicate just in case you made a mistake...beats pressing control-Z a dozen times. Take your open layer 2 and begin erasing the part of the image to show the pink shirt... I like to use a soft round brush.

Now if the pink is too bright and you would like to mute it a bit, insert a saturation/hue layer between 1 and 2, and decrease the saturation.

oohh, the pink and chocolate colors are going to look wonderful together.

My mommy's helper is coming tomorrow morning, so I'll have some uninterrupted time to help you out with PSE open......

Just a screen dump showing the layers and the result. However, I think this effect would look more elegant with a "softer" background.

The layers a tad bit hard to read....
Here they are from bottom - up:
1. Background (original color photo, enhanced, some levels, filtering, etc)
2. Hue/Saturation 1 (adjusted to created muted coloring in shirt)
3. BW Converted Image (Converted using Enhancement feature in PSEv5) - I also color dodged the whites of the eyes and the iris' to further enhance the eyes.
4. BW converted Image - Copy
5. Levels
6. Black Mask (optional) - I used this to further create POP to the photo. Blend mode = soft light. Opacity of layer 5% - 15% Brushed the eyes to keep them lightened and enhanced.
7. Color Tone (39291b) - the options for the coloring are endless. I ended up with this one because it was more chocolate to me. Blend Mode = soft light. Opacity of Layer <%75. Adjust to taste:)
8. Brightness/Contrast (set any where from 5% to 15%) Opacity can be further adjusted.
9. Edge Vignette (optional)

http://MommyandMePhotography.smugmug.com/photos/192037259-L.jpg

[dmeltesen]

Denise.

I'm sorry, but this is not working for me. All I end up with is a B&W pic and even loose the brown hint coloriing.

I have all the items as you list & in order. But I can not bring in the pink as confused which layer is actually doing this and the brown tint was completely lost. Also, did you colorize the hue layer?

Lost sorry.... picture is in my gallery (PSE5 screenshot)

[kimi_boo]

Oh Denise... can I have him? ;) :D

[deedeeO]

Denise.

I'm sorry, but this is not working for me. All I end up with is a B&W pic and even loose the brown hint coloriing.

I have all the items as you list & in order. But I can not bring in the pink as confused which layer is actually doing this and the brown tint was completely lost. Also, did you colorize the hue layer?

Lost sorry.... picture is in my gallery (PSE5 screenshot)

oops, I always forget a fine detail....on layer #3, which is your BW converted image, begin erasing using a soft round brush at 100% the pink portions of the shirt.

And no, my layer #2 - hue saturation is not colorized. I desaturated the coloring in layer #1 because the color was too bright and adjusted the hue to get a nice pretty blue color (original shirt color was lime green:eek:) As I saw from your screen shots, don't erase from here....this layer is for color adjustment of your original color photo (layer #1)

I'll try Graffi's way too, which is what you attempted...I think that is the way you are suspose to do it..I'm slow at learning.....

[deedeeO]

Oh Denise... can I have him? ;) :D

YES!!! and when he is done teething:( you can give him back to me...:p

[dmeltesen]

But ya, I had erased the B&W layer to show the pink thru. But its orange due to the brown layer up above that. Thats the pic in the gallery.

I think thats my ultimate issue....the brown color layer turns my pink shirt orange. Whether I do that how Graffi suggested or how Denise suggested. So not sure how to resolve

[GaryK]

D

Not meaning to jump in this late. :rolleyes:

Try Denise's steps one at a time. Play with each layer as you add it (watch the blending modes she has used). This will help you understand what each does.
I always found when I was folowing a tut, that if I did all the steps without really looking, I would end up not knowing what did what.:)

[GaryK]

I think Denise was using the eraser a bit, and Graffi was using the mask part of the adjustment layer.:)

[dmeltesen]

I went back to my original changes. Only thing I did differently is that I used a soft brush on my color latey at the top. That removed the brown hue & pink came back. So yeah.

Check out my picture in my gallery. Let me know your thoughts. I appreciate any opinions as far as how it looks. :)

So last question....how would I add pink into the cheeks?

D

[Kathy]

Adorable photograph ! I love the softness and the expression.

Those eyelashes are to die for. :)

Kathy

[nkeevers]

Denise, great job! And BTW, he is sooo adorable!!!!

[deedeeO]

I went back to my original changes. Only thing I did differently is that I used a soft brush on my color latey at the top. That removed the brown hue & pink came back. So yeah.

Check out my picture in my gallery. Let me know your thoughts. I appreciate any opinions as far as how it looks. :)

So last question....how would I add pink into the cheeks?

D

hey D-
The picture turned out wonderful. That baby girl is just too pretty!! And yes, I agree, those eyelashes are to die for.

Now, I don't know if it is just me, but it looks like that there is a subtle pink coloring in her cheeks already or maybe it is just a reflection.

You can add the pink cheeks, by using a soft round brush - brush tool, and selecting the same color pink as in her shirt. I usually have the brush size at about the same size as the cheek, and then I just dab the color on with a very low opacity of about 15%. You can apply the color directly onto the photo, or better yet, create a new layer.

to get around the brownish coloring in your normal coloring....once you achieved the brownish tone that you like when applied to you BW photo, merge these two layers together and treat it as one layer.

Good job...keep playing.....

[dmeltesen]

Thanks Denise.

your pictures are very nice.... are you professional photographer? They look like professional work. Love them

[deedeeO]

Thank you.... Hobby going Pro....just started a photography business this summer. Previous life, I worked as a scientist doing digital fluorescence cellular imaging (High content Screening)....that is where I get my digital professionalism. Just lots and lots of practice and personal training.

[dmeltesen]

Thats great Denise...keep up the good work. I fell & broke my camera last fall & then got my first SLR over x-mas. Took me a month to get over being scared of it. So by Feb. 07...I really started playing. I've loved it ever since. So right now I'm learning the camera, PSE 5, studio lighting and here lately my newest purchase a 580 EX II. I have a wish list a mile long.....but slow but sure will get there. And hoping to capture my little children along the way.....

What type of camera do you shoot with?

[deedeeO]

Thats great Denise...keep up the good work. I fell & broke my camera last fall & then got my first SLR over x-mas. Took me a month to get over being scared of it. So by Feb. 07...I really started playing. I've loved it ever since. So right now I'm learning the camera, PSE 5, studio lighting and here lately my newest purchase a 580 EX II. I have a wish list a mile long.....but slow but sure will get there. And hoping to capture my little children along the way.....

What type of camera do you shoot with?

oh, what a way to get a new camera. Ouch!! I have the 350D (Canon XT), with the 40D or 5D, and when I make millions the MarKIII on my list. the 580EXII and Gary Fong Lightsphere on the way. Lenses gallore (this is where the fun begins!!): 18-55mm f/4.0, 50mm f/1.4 and f/1.8; 85mm f/1.8, 75-300mm IS f/4.0, and my new baby, the 70-200mm IS f/2.8. A recommendation with capturing babies, kids and things that like to move a lot, get a lens with the low aperature setting. A good starter lens is the 50mm f/1.8 - very affordable and captures almost every silly baby expression. And allows the use of very little flash so that you can capture so sleepy moments...taking pictures of your children are the best practice...

[JulieM]

I've had a lot of fun playing with this technique and have learned much. Thanks so much Denise and everyone for sharing! I think I got off the "B&W with soft brown tinge" track on this one but still liked the result...

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1EDQrL17jwV9h3KwJclzoYrZq8l5W_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1EDQrL17jwV9h3KwJclzoYrZq8l5W)

[deedeeO]

Oh this looks great!! Nice touch with the muted color undertones under the chocolate layer... I use all the time too. Especially when I can't get the skin coloring that I want....
Nice job!!

[dmeltesen]

My 580EX II is what I just got this week as well & the lightsphere that came with it. I have the 50mm 1.8 (my first lens purchase) My wish list is below I have the Canon XTI (aka 400D) from X-mas

My immediate wish list:
Canon 70-200mm IS 2.8L
Canon 24-70mm 2.8L
Canon 85mm 1.2
Canon 50mm 1.2 (if I have money to spare)
Canon 5D
Canon prime wide angle 1.8 or below.

FUN FUN FUN

[deedeeO]

My 580EX II is what I just got this week as well & the lightsphere that came with it. I have the 50mm 1.8 (my first lens purchase) My wish list is below I have the Canon XTI (aka 400D) from X-mas

My immediate wish list:
Canon 70-200mm IS 2.8L
Canon 24-70mm 2.8L
Canon 85mm 1.2
Canon 50mm 1.2 (if I have money to spare)
Canon 5D
Canon prime wide angle 1.8 or below.

FUN FUN FUN

Girlie, you are well on your way!!!!

[epaul6]

Here is a tut for midnight sepia which softens portraits (by use of a blur layer) and then uses a combo of B&W and filters set to different opacities to provide a sepia image.

http://www.escrappers.com/midnightsepia.html

[deedeeO]

Here is a tut for midnight sepia which softens portraits (by use of a blur layer) and then uses a combo of B&W and filters set to different opacities to provide a sepia image.

http://www.escrappers.com/midnightsepia.html

Thanks, I'll give this one a try too!!!