Here’s how to turn an image into black and white, leaving only one color as the accent. There are a number of ways of accomplishing this selective coloring effect depending on the image editing software you are using. In this tutorial, I will use Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0.
- Always make a copy of the image you want to work with, so you don’t muck up the original. Here is the image I will be using:
- Use the Magic Wand Tool to select the area (color) you want to accent.
- Now, do Select – Inverse to select everything except the colored area.
- In the Layers window, click on the Create adjustment layer icon and select Hue/Saturation…
- Move the Saturation slide all the way to the left to remove all colors.
![Original Picture Original Picture](https://i0.wp.com/www.photoxels.com/images/Tutorial/bw-color-01.jpg?resize=450%2C338&ssl=1)
Original Picture
![Original Picture Select Color](https://i0.wp.com/www.photoxels.com/images/Tutorial/bw-color-02.jpg?resize=450%2C355&ssl=1)
Select Color
![Original Picture Select Inverse](https://i0.wp.com/www.photoxels.com/images/Tutorial/bw-color-03.jpg?resize=450%2C355&ssl=1)
Select Inverse
![Original Picture Everything except colored area is now selected](https://i0.wp.com/www.photoxels.com/images/Tutorial/bw-color-04.jpg?resize=450%2C355&ssl=1)
Everything except colored area is now selected
![Original Picture Create adjustment layer - Hue/Saturation...](https://i0.wp.com/www.photoxels.com/images/Tutorial/bw-color-05.jpg?resize=450%2C354&ssl=1)
Create adjustment layer - Hue/Saturation...
![Original Picture Desaturate all colors to B&W](https://i0.wp.com/www.photoxels.com/images/Tutorial/bw-color-06.jpg?resize=450%2C356&ssl=1)
Desaturate all colors to B&W
![Original Picture Final Result](https://i0.wp.com/www.photoxels.com/images/Tutorial/bw-color-07.jpg?resize=450%2C338&ssl=1)
Final Result
Et voilà!
Other examples:
In the example above, I selected the whole sail boat (instead of just one color) and let everything else go B&W.
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