how do you keep somethings one color and change the rest of the image? im trying to change the background to b/w and keep the subject in color but i keep screwing it up! thank you
Google for some guides for 'selective coloring' Basically make a copy of the layer. Make the bottom one B&W and the top one color. Then erase anything in the top layer you don't want to be color
I'd do it slightly differently: Create a Duplicate Layer on top and convert the top layer to B/W through your method of choice (Desaturation or otherwise). Put a layer mask on the top level and then use whatever brush you want to "draw" in the area you want colored.
Looks nice. You can also go into the Layer -> levels menu on the B&W and increase the contrast. Try making the blacks blacker.
A layer mask is used to only make selected parts of a layer visible. When you first create a layer mask, it's solid white, blocking the entire layer. When you do anything to the layer, the darker parts of the layer become visible. It's kind of like putting a piece of paper over the layer so you can't see it and then cutting holes in the paper.
I sometimes find it helpful when doing the mask to put a semi-transparent solid color layer between the color and B&W layer to make it very easy to see what's masked and what's not.
