I love looking at Black and White pictures...it somehow gives me a very calm feeling and intimate thoughts. However, seeing a bit of color on a Black and White picture makes it more exciting and outstanding. Thus, we see selective color photography everywhere nowadays. It usually draws attention to the subject in the photo and turns it into a work of art.
Most selective color photos are converted to Black and White, leaving some parts with color. But, this time I want to share a "Selective Color Technique" that will color some parts of a Black and White picture.
How to Color a Black and White Photo
Tutorial Details
Program: Photoshop CS5
Requirements:
Requirements:
- Music: Colbie Caillat’s You Got Me (I play a song in the background as it helps me to be in the groove while working)
- Comfy Working Table
- Pen Tablet or your trusty Mouse
- Black and White Image - you can get the image I have used here
First of all, study your black and white photo and decide which part of it you want to color. Well, in this case, of course, I’m going to choose the couple in my picture, because they are kissing and I’m a romantic!
Okay, so let’s start now...
Step 1
Start by creating a path using the Pen tool.
Let’s work on the woman’s face first. Make sure that you carefully trace the outline of her face so you get to color it perfectly.
TIP: When using the pen tool and you’re trying to trace or crop an image, you just click and drag and follow the contour of the image. To close the path you’re making, you should be able to see a little circle beside the pen tool instead of the “x” symbol if you put it on the first anchor point you created. (Please see the image below to check on the anchor points – they are the little squares on the woman’s face.)
Once you have closed the path, you’ll be able to see the grey outline on the woman’s face.
Step 2
Select the Work Path.
Go to Paths tab and point your mouse on top of the layer or the path you created, and then press and hold the CTRL key from your keyboard and then click on it once you see the small square beside the mouse pointer. You should be able to see an ants trail after selecting the work path as shown in the image below.
TIP: You also have the option to rename the path by double clicking on the layer. I have named mine F face (Female face). This is for future modification so it will be easier for you to find it just in case you have created more than 10 paths.
Step 3
Choose a color and fill the selected path to create a colored layer. Go to Tools and click on the Foreground Color to pick a color. With this one, let’s try #feba8f hexadecimal to achieve a light skin tone for the woman. You may try other skin tones, but I prefer this one since they are Caucasians.
Once, you have chosen your preferred color for the skin from the Color Picker or Foreground Color window, click ok and fill the selected layer with the paint bucket or press shift + backspace from your keyboard and click OK once you see the Fill window as another option.
Step 4
Use Blending Modes to achieve the right skin tone and make the colored layer blend into the original image. Color works well with our chosen hexadecimal #feba8f for the skin.
But, the color needs a little more fine-tuning so let’s try to adjust the Opacity to 54%. Try to do the same thing for her hand.
Step 5
Repeat Steps 1 to 4 to color the other parts of the picture like the woman’s hair, coat, bag, plastic bag and her laptop bag. Do the same thing to the man’s face, hair, jacket, knapsack, pants and umbrella.
TIP: Play around with the Blending Modes and the Opacity so you can get the right blend for each element.
TIP: Create a folder and drag all the layers you have created for the woman inside it so it won’t be hard for you to find a particular layer later on. It’s also good to have your layers organized.
These are the colors and blending modes I used:
Female Hair: #f78f08, Soft Light, 54% Opacity
Woman's Jacket: #ff18c1, Subtract, 100% Opacity
Scarf: #ff18c1, Color Burn, 100% Opacity
Purse/Bag: #ffe42b, Soft Light, 100% Opacity
Carrier Bag: #fff36d, Divide, 100% Opacity
Step 6
Create a new group for the color fill layers for the man.
Here are the colors and blending modes I used for him:
Male Hair: #663f0d, Soft Light, 100% Opacity
Man's Face: #ffbb94, Color, 55% Opacity
Man's Hand: #ffbb94, Color, 40% Opacity (we make the hand a little darker as there is something covering it)
Man's Pants: #1a5685, Color Dodge, 100% Opacity
Sweat Shirt: #ffffff, Soft Light, 100% Opacity
Sleeve Patch: #1264d8, Multiply, 40% Opacity
Knapsack: #be0620, Multiply, 100% Opacity
Knapsack Straps: #be0620, Multiply, 100% Opacity
Knapsack Accents: #ffffff, Normal, 100% Opacity (or you can erase or mask out the red from the Knapsack layer in these areas)
Step 7
Are you happy with it? We can still do something about this to make the colors more vibrant and make them more alive.
You can make a copy of the Female and Male folders to achieve this look.
TIP: In order for you to duplicate the female or male folder, in the layers palette, drag the group to the “Create a new layer” which is beside the Trash can icon/Delete layer, and then let go.
And you can just sigh and say, it’s always nice to have that fuzzy feeling and just be in love all the time. LOVE can color your gloomy world. That's for sure!
Comments
Post a Comment