How Do I do that

chrisburke · May 25, 2007

Hey, I'm new to photogrpahy, love it, bought a d40 a few weeks back, have gotten some GREAT tips from a photojournalist friend of mine and I think i'm learning quickly.

Oh you can check out some of my pics here:
http://idiotsphotoblog.blogspot.com/

If you guys could have a look and make some suggestions to me, that would be killer.

What I'm wondering: I've been browsing through some different photos on the web that people have taken, and seen some really cool stuff. One particular thing that I saw that I've been wondering about is a picture I saw, unfortunatley I can't find it anymore so I can't show you. Anyways, The pic was of a guy, and it was grayscaled, but the face of the guy was colored. How do I go about doing that??? Any ideas?

MikeR · May 25, 2007

I checked out your images. Always check the viewfinder carefully. In the shot "Stuck In A Hole" the thing behind the young lady seems to be resting on her head. If you had her move slightly or you changed your position, it would not be there. A camera,unlike our eyes,does not record depth. With your eyes, you saw the object in the distance. This is not so for a camera lens. We have a sense of depth because of our 2 eyes. If you view scenes with one eye closed you will get a better idea of how a lens see things when it comes to depth. As a photographer you need to create a sense of depth in your shots.
Now about your gray scale question. Most editing software can do this. You achieve it by selecting the area you want to remove the color from.

chrisburke · May 25, 2007

thanks for that advice, your right i didnt even notice it when taking the picture, and to be honest, didn't even notice it until you pointed it out, but thank you very much!!!

I'm not sure I understand how to only select certain parts of the picture to change coloring. I use Photoshop cs1 on a mac. I've goofed around with a picture, but don't think i'm doing it right.

I grayscaled the while picture, then selected the person in the picture and tried to change the color mode, but it didn't do anything, so I'm clearly doing it wrong....

firemedic0135 · May 25, 2007

I dont have PS But have PSP and I assume it would be similar.
what you are reffering to is called selective coloring I believe?
Take the original and convert it to greyscale
then save the greyscale as such and keep the original in color.
Now right click on the B&W image and select copy.
Now open the color version again and right click and select add as new layer or something like that.
Now just use your eraser tool and erase the portion in B&W you want in color and then merge all layers and flatten then save as selective color as not to overwrite your previius files
Now if this works on PS I dont know but thats how I do it on PSP.
If it doesnt owrk and I am way off then I am sorry for wasting your time and Mine.