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<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nNow, on to today’s tip. Have you ever seen a photo that was black and white except for one object, which is in full color? It’s a popular effect, and there are a number of ways to achieve it. The featured image above is a great example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Using color pop effects in your photos is a brilliant idea to make them stand out from the rest. Be it a scenic shot or eye-catching subject, color pop effects are fun and give you an advantage when trying to add a dash of color to your photo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Color Popping<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Color popping is a digital effect in which part of an image is shown in color while the rest is in grey or dull monochrome. It\u2019s a simple but effective way to make your subject pop to create an effect that is pleasing to the eye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Please remember that I use Photoshop Elements (PSE) so all of the steps that follow were accomplished using PSE. The same method will work in Photoshop or most other graphics editing software that features adjustment layers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are several ways you can accomplish the color pop effect in PSE. One is to use the Guided feature in PSE called B&W Color Pop:<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nAs with most of the Guided options in PSE, there is a bit of a learning curve. And I also find that I have more flexibility and control if I do this manually. So that\u2019s what I\u2019m going to do today. I\u2019ll show you how to create a black-and-white photo with a dash of color using masking & adjustment layers. Let\u2019s get started\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Convert To Black & White<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m going to be using this butterfly photo I found on Pixabay<\/a><\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n I just pull this photo into PSE. By now you also are probably aware that I always try to edit photos in a non-destructive way. So, the first thing I\u2019ll do is make a duplicate copy of the photo, name it B&W (the name will make sense in a minute) & hide the original.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Next, I\u2019m going to use the Magnetic Lasso tool to select only the butterfly. My first go around was pretty good but I did have to switch to the Brush selection tool to clean up the selection a bit. Here\u2019s what I ended up with:<\/p>\n\n\n I know it might be hard to see them but the \u201cmarching ants\u201d show the butterfly as selected. I really didn\u2019t need to select the antennae & legs as they were basically black. But you also know I can tend to be a bit finicky. So, you probably aren\u2019t too surprised that I did include them in the selection \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now I create a new layer via copy from the selection and name it Butterfly. For now, I\u2019m going to hide this new Butterfly layer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then with the B&W layer active in the layers panel I select \u201cEnhance-> Convert to Black and White from the top tool bar:<\/p>\n\n\n PSE opens the Convert to Black and White options panel.<\/p>\n\n\n There are several preset \u201cstyles\u201d for the conversion. I opted for Scenic landscape. You can experiment with the various options and the Intensity adjustment sliders to achieve the look you desire. The key is to keep the contrast levels in the B&W version as close as possible to those in the original photo. Here is my B&W photo:<\/p>\n\n\n Now the name of this layer makes sense, right? Next, I unhide the Butterfly layer to see how it looks on the B&W background:<\/p>\n\n\n I\u2019m a little disappointed in how the butterfly looks\u2026almost dull against the B&W background. So, I duplicate the Butterfly layer and name the new layer Butterfly Boost. I then change the Blend Mode on the Butterfly Boost layer to Color Dodge and this is the result:<\/p>\n\n\n I\u2019m happier with this but I want to \u201camp\u201d it up just a bit more with an adjustment layer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is a totally optional step. If you\u2019re happy with how your color image shows up\u2026you can skip this step altogether. If you want to give it a try, here\u2019s what I did\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n With the Butterfly Boost layer active in the layers panel, I select Layer->New Adjustment Layer->Gradient Map from the top tool bar:<\/p>\n\n\n PSE opens the New Layer options box:<\/p>\n\n\n There is a default name filled in for the layer & I leave it as is. But I do check the \u201cUse Previous Layer to Create Clipping Mask\u201d box. This tells PSE to apply this gradient layer only to the Butterfly Boost layer. I leave all the other defaults as is and click OK. PSE then opens the Gradient Map box:<\/p>\n\n\n I click the down arrow on the right side of that gradient map bar & PSE then opens the Gradient Default options box:<\/p>\n\n\n I opted to just stick with the default gradient. Depending on the colors in your photo you can select different gradient options by clicking the down arrow to the right of the word Default. For me, Default looks like it will work out just fine. Then I selected the \u201cSpectrum\u201d option at the bottom left (highlighted in bright pink). And this is the result:<\/p>\n\n\n Don\u2019t panic\u2026I know this looks garish but I\u2019m going to fix it. First, I change the Blend Mode of the Gradient adjustment layer to Overlay. Then I set the opacity to 60% and here is the \u201cadjusted\u201d butterfly:<\/p>\n\n\n I know it may seem like a subtle difference. But I feel like this made the colors & highlights in the butterfly pop so much more. I\u2019m happy with how this looks so far. But now I think the B&W background might need some work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Again, this is a totally optional step. If you\u2019re happy with the tone of your background\u2026you can skip this step altogether. If you want to adjust the color tone, here\u2019s what I did\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n I think the B&W background looks a bit too \u201ccool\u201d\u2026too blueish if you know what I mean. I want to warm up that background just a bit so it fits better with the warm colors in the butterfly. I\u2019m going to do this using another adjustment layer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With the B&W layer active in the layers panel I once again select Layer->New Adjustment Layer. But this time I select Photo Filter (instead of Gradient Map) from the top tool bar:<\/p>\n\n\n Just as before, there is a default name filled in for the layer & I leave it as is. This time there is no need to check the \u201cUse Previous Layer to Create Clipping Mask\u201d box as this Photo Filter layer will only apply to the B&W layer. I leave all the other defaults as is and click OK. PSE then opens the Photo Filter options box:<\/p>\n\n\n In my case, PSE has the Warming Filter (85) as the default. There are several other filter options, lucky for me this one did the trick. You can experiment with the various Filter options, Color chip\/setting and the Density adjustment slider to achieve the look you desire. I just left everything at the default and here is my \u201cwarmed up\u201d background:<\/p>\n\n\n I like this much better. But I think I want the background flowers to be less prevalent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This too is a totally optional step. If you\u2019re happy with the look of your background\u2026you can skip this step entirely. If you want to add more focus to the foreground, here\u2019s what I did\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n I really want to concentrate the focus of this \u201cnew\u201d photo onto the foreground cone flower & butterfly by \u201cmuting\u201d the remainder of the B&W background in some fashion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n First, I\u2019m going to duplicate the B&W layer and name the new layer B&W Darker. I move this new \u201cdarker\u201d layer below the B&W layer and hide it for the time being.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With the B&W layer active in the layers panel I once again use the Magnetic Lasso tool and the Brush selection tool to select everything in the photo except the foreground cone flower & the butterfly. Here\u2019s what I ended up with:<\/p>\n\n\n I know it might be hard to see them but the \u201cmarching ants\u201d show everything but the cone flower & the butterfly as being selected. The key to making this selection is to ensure you go all around the perimeter of the entire portion of the background that will be darkened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you need a reminder on how to make this kind of selection refer back to my Torn Papers<\/a><\/strong> post. Within that post there is the section labeled \u201cTearing Papers\u201d; you\u2019ll find a tip there on how to ensure a good selection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, back to the butterfly picture\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ensuring that the B&W layer is still active, I click the \u201cAdd layer mask\u201d icon in the Layers Panel. This tells PSE to use only the selected area as the mask. The layer mask on the B&W layer now looks like this:<\/p>\n\n\n Remember that in masking, black means hide. This means the only parts of the B&W layer that are now visible are the foreground cone flower & Butterfly. This is what the work area looks like with the B&W Darker layer hidden:<\/p>\n\n\n Next, I unhide the B&W Darker layer. With the B&W Darker layer active in the layers panel I once again select Layer->New Adjustment Layer from the top tool bar. For this step I then select Levels:<\/p>\n\n\n As in the prior step using an adjustment layer, I leave all the other defaults as is and click OK. There\u2019s no need to check the \u201ccreate a clipping mask\u201d option as this levels adjustment will be applied only to the B&W Darker layer. PSE then opens the Levels options box:<\/p>\n\n\n The only thing I need to do is change the Output Level settings. Since I\u2019m darkening the background, I can either grab the right most (white) slider and move it to the left until I reach the desired darkness or just type in a new value to replace the existing value (255). You can experiment with the Output Levels to achieve the look you desire. I ended up using a new value of 132.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With that levels adjustment finished, I found that parts of my foreground selection need to be touched up a bit. So I just double-clicked on the layer mask on the B&W layer and made all necessary adjustments to the mask using a simple round brush. And here is the result:<\/p>\n\n\n Now the foreground really pops. I\u2019m really happy with this darkened background.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now if you don\u2019t care much for darkening the background there\u2019s an alternative to using a Levels adjustment layer. If you\u2019ve already tried the levels option simply hide the adjustment layer and try this instead\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n I know the background flowers are already somewhat out of focus. But blurring them a bit more should tend to make the foreground selection pop an extra bit. With the B&W Darker layer active in the Layer\u2019s Panel I simply select Filter->Blur->Gaussian Blur from the top tool bar:<\/p>\n\n\n PSE opens the Gaussian Blur options box:<\/p>\n\n\n All I have to do is adjust the size of the Radius either by moving the slider or entering a value for the Pixels. You can experiment with the Radius setting to achieve the look you desire. As you can see, I ended up using 30. And here\u2019s the result:<\/p>\n\n\n I do like this version too. It\u2019s a more subtle change to the background than the darkened version. It\u2019s certainly a matter of personal preference when deciding which background \u201cmuting\u201d option to use. I saved the photo both ways so I can decide later which one to use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Don\u2019t sell yourself short. It\u2019s always a good idea to try new things. Worst case scenario\u2026you can always undo (CTRL+Z) your way out of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Play with popping a single color wherever it occurs in the photo. This can sometimes give some very unexpected and fun results. While reds are the most eye-catching shades, other primary shades such as blue, green, and their secondary colors such as orange and yellow stand out the most when \u201cpopping\u201d colors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you have a photo with multiple \u201csubjects\u201d try popping one color\/part on each subject for an interesting effect\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n While it is the most popular way to go, don\u2019t feel like your background always has to be black & white. You can also use a sepia toned (or other color) background if that suits the photo better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Experiment with multiple layers & different blend modes to get varying results on the selection that you\u2019re trying to \u201cpop\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A quick alternative to the detailed steps provided above is to simply duplicate your photo, convert the new (top) layer to B&W (or other color) and then simply “mask away” everything you want to “Color Pop” from the bottom (color) layer of the photo. The easiest way to mask away is to select only the portion(s) of the B&W photo you want to pop and click the \u201cAdd layer mask\u201d icon in the Layers Panel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And, if you have any questions, need a bit of help, or want to a make suggestion about future topics you\u2019d like me to cover please don\u2019t hesitate to \u201cMessage Me<\/a><\/strong>\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thanks for reading this week\u2019s Tuesday Tip. <\/em>If you want to stay informed about new posts, just click \u201cFollow Me<\/a><\/strong>\u201d to stay in touch. I hope you have a wonderful week!<\/p>\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nPop The Colors<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nWarm Up The Background<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nFocus On The Foreground<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nSome Extra Tips About Color Popping<\/h3>\n\n\n
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