Black And White Photos With a Touch of Color

I have seen pictures that are in black and white, and somewhere on the same picture there is an item that is in color. What do you call this ?

I see these pictures all over the place but I don't know what you call this. You may see a girl holding a rose. The girl is in black and white but the rose is red. How do you get this type of picture and what is it called?

Anonymous Contributor,



Answer:

I love when questions lead to new learning tools. Thank you for this opportunity.

This effect is known as Black and White Partial Color Effect. I read this on about.com so I am not certain if this is an official name. I've put a sample of this photo effect in here so that readers can see what I am talking about.

The effect is achieved using Layers in your photo editing software. I used Gimp to accomplish the effect in this picture.

This leads to why I love questions like this. I did a search to find what the effect is called. In my search I found a tutorial that makes the process very easy.

In summary you create a duplicate layer of your image. Make it gray scale. Then create a mask and reveal the color of the subject you want to stand out. Please visit about.com/partialcolor.htm (opens in new window) for complete step by step instructions.

The are many ways to achieve this method. In the above image I created a layer. Made the duplicate layer black and white. Then use the freeform selection tool to select and cut out the flower I wanted to show through in color.

Frankly the tutorial at about.com is much easier and faster. You can look for a few more images in the near future. I used the practice sample in the tutorial and it is copyright image so I will have to share one of my own later.

Thank you again for your question.

If anyone has a special way of accomplishing this effect please post your comments.

Have fun,

Sally
owner: www.nature-and-flower-pictures.com