Photo Color on Black and White

Do you enjoy photography and would you like to use your creative talents to create a unique photo for someone? With digital photography and the Digital darkroom, your computer, you can do things now that were not possible before. Software programs like Photoshop and Photoshop Elements allow the average photographer to do things that only skilled professionals used to in a photo lab. I am surprised how many photographers are afraid to use such programs. Some feel that once you use such a program you stop being a photographer.

By using Photoshop Elements I was able to create this black and white photo with the Coach, The Focal Point, in color. This is a very interesting effect and I have received very positive comments from this type of photo. This will not work for every photo. What you are doing is isolating a single element that you want people to focus on that element. It works well to single out a person within a group. I have seen it used to focus on the bride and groom within the wedding party.

This image was created by using the layers tool. The first step is to create a copy of the photo you want to work on. This should be done anytime you are going to work on a photo in any photo enhancing software program. If you make a mistake you can start over again with the original photo. The next step is to create a grayscale copy of the photo by going to Enhance on the tool bar and selecting removing the color from the picture. You then copy the whole photo, using the select mode on the tool bar and select all, then go to the edit mode on the tool bar and select copy. The next step is to go again to the Edit Mode and undo the removing color. Now going to the edit mode again you select the paste and paste the copied photo (grayscale no Color) over the color photo. Using the eraser tool remove the grayscale layer from the part you want to show through in color. It will help if you use the enlarge tool to enlarge the photo. If you place the magnifying glass over the spot you are going to be working it will center that part of the photo on your screen. When you enlarge the photo you can see better the edges of the subject you want to have colored and get a sharper picture. Then you save it as a new file. You should save one copy as a jpeg file if you are going to use on line printing.