Paint some parts and not others

[Nitro]

Hi everyone. VERY new newbie here!! lol.
I got a very nice camera for Christmas (Nikon D50) and have been messing around with it which lead me to looking more into digital imaging software.

Got to searching around the web for tips and tutorials for Elements and came across this site and what a great site. Everyone seems very helpful.

My question is this; I have a really neat picture of one of my sons and I would like to experiment with making the photo black and white or sepia and then having say his hair or an article of his clothing remain in colour...or colour it, but different than what it is in the picture.

Your knowledge is greatly appreciated. Thanks,
Lee

[Carbone]

Hi and welcome to the forums Lee!

To do this, it's very simple: Create a Hue & Saturation adjustment layer, the slide the saturation slider all the way to the left. Then, click with your mouse on the white thumbnail in the adjustment layer. Select the brush tool, make your foregroud colour black, and just paint over areas you want to remain coloured.

Black hides, white reveals.

Hope this helps!

Ray

[Wendy]

Hi Lee ...

... and welcome to the forum :)

If an image of what Ray is explaining would help then I did a mini tut a while back of this technique. Its in this thread message No 6:

http://www.photoshopelementsuser.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4945

Wendy

[Nitro]

WOW, that was easy, thanks for the quick replies. I have tried it already with success. I still can't believe what you can do with programs like Elements.
But then again, I am (or used to be anyways) proficient with AutoCAD and I couldn't believe what that did.

So just to get my brain around what is happening, I am creating a b&w layer over top of the colour layer (background) then I am basically "scratching off" the top B&W layer to expose the colour beneath it. Is that right?
I am just not sure why the foreground has to be black.

Thanks,
Lee

[Wendy]

Hi Lee ...

Gosh you have been quick :eek:

Yes that basically what you are doing ... but instead of scratching it off permanently you are just hiding it (with black paint on the mask) that way if you hide a little too much you can paint it back in again (with white paint on the mask).

The only reason for setting the forground to black is that its the first colour you need to "paint" with :)

Wendy

[Daviskw]

Hi Lee

Think of the mask as a window between the color layer and the no color layer. When you paint on the window you block the no color layer from showing. It does not need to be black if you painted with gray, some of the no color would show thru. But black blocks all.

What is great is if you reveal too much color with the black you can change to white to allow the layer to show thru again.

Butch

[Daviskw]

Wendy... we've got to stop meeting this way..:p

[Wendy]

Butch ...

I like meeting this way :)

.. and I like the window concept ... its a great way of explaining it !

Wendy

[Nitro]

thanks again everyone. A very welcome welcome indeed!
I was quick on it because I had it open in front of me!! lol.

Lee

[Wendy]

Hi Lee ...

When you have finished do let us see the image :)

If you donlt have webspace then you can use Pixentral to upload the image ...

http://www.pixentral.com/index.php

Wendy

[Nitro]

ok, here are two images of my son Harry that I did. One is with the background in colour and one is with his shirt in colour. Very simple I know but a good learning process for me.
Check them out:

http://www.islipflowcontrols.com/dogs/harry.jpg
http://www.islipflowcontrols.com/dogs/harry2.jpg

Lee

[Carbone]

He's sooo cute! Congrats :)

Ray

[jo]

Lee, they are both good, but I prefer the one with his shirt in color. Such a cute smile!

[Scraptastickat]

what a cutie. I think you did excellent with this technique!

[Wendy]

Hi Lee ..

... you have done those really well. Good work on the edges :)

and what a cutie !!. He is adorable :)

Wendy

[Nitro]

Thanks everyone, the comments are much appreciated.
He is amost too cute for his own good.:)
It's hard to give him trouble when our sides are hurting from laughing so much! and he is our third son!! lol....and the quick witted one! the things he says and does, man of man.:)

[Wendy]

Hi ...

I look foward to some more photos of him :) no doubt you will be trying out a lot more different effects !


Wendy