Colorized Monochrome...

[GTAltman]

Ladies, Gents and Resident Gurus....

I did a search for the title to see if this topic has already been tackled, but with 174 pages I will apologize in advance for not going thru each and every page.

This picture:



Was taken in monochrome setting. Now here's my question...

After opening in PS, how would I colorize only my wife's shirt (red)? There's another of her on my flicker site posed with my pups from the same day.

I know it CAN be done (probably by someone much more talented than I), but I like playing to learn.

I know that this is asked to be given as well, maybe not for this cause, but...

Canon T1i, 75mm, 400 ISO, f10, 1/250 shutter.Flash off

Thanks in advance....

Gary

[autofocus]

Welcome Gary. If it was shot in camera as a black and white the color data is gone. (Unless you shot it as RAW) For that reason it's always best to shoot in color and then convert in post to B/W. You also can produce a better B/W by doing it that way because you still have control of the color channels.

[GTAltman]

Originally Posted by autofocus

Welcome Gary. If it was shot in camera as a black and white the color data is gone. (Unless you shot it as RAW) For that reason it's always best to shoot in color and then convert in post to B/W. You also can produce a better B/W by doing it that way because you still have control of the color channels.

Thanks for the reply....
While lurking here I was "taught" to shoot in RAW and JPG, as that's what I did! Heck, why wouldn't you? It's only memory that you're going to reuse anyway! I was also taught to at least read the Tutorials, But I digress.

I did catch a tutorial here (second post down?) on this site:
Post-Processing Tutorials

And that was a pretty good start for me. I had trouble following because I'm not that versed in PS but can get things done - it just takes me longer.

So this is what I did....

I opened the file in RAW, re-colorized and saved as a TIF (or JPG - don't remember which).
Opened new colorized file in PS
Duplicated the layer.
Added a blank layer.
I then did LAYER, NEW ADJUSTMENT LAYER, CHANNEL MIXER
Turned that to B&W
Then on the duplicated layer started ERASING!!!
Zoomed in and made the brush smaller to edge....once that was done, I then zoomed out and made the brush larger to bulk erase.

All told...15-20 minutes.

The blank layer was filled with a different color that what was on the photo (pale blue) to show where I might have missed with the eraser.

Once I was satisified, I deleted the "Blue" layer, flattened the image and saved as a JPG.

Here is the finished product....

[autofocus]

Gary, seems like a lot of work. Simple method after you convert to b/w (whatever method to convert you choose)...then use the history brush to bring back the original color in the area you want the selective color in...probably under a minute to do

[GTAltman]

Originally Posted by autofocus

Gary, seems like a lot of work. Simple method after you convert to b/w (whatever method to convert you choose)...then use the history brush to bring back the original color in the area you want the selective color in...probably under a minute to do

I just did what you recommended....
PRO: Ridiculously quicker (and easier)
CON: The longer I clicked in one spot, the darker it got in that spot.

Not sure why? Brush setting? :-\

And what you recommended is exactly the tutorial.

Gary

[autofocus]

Originally Posted by GTAltman

I just did what you recommended....
PRO: Ridiculously quicker (and easier)
CON: The longer I clicked in one spot, the darker it got in that spot.

Not sure why? Brush setting? :-\

And what you recommended is exactly the tutorial.

Gary

Might be how you had the opacity set on the brush. Any setting less than 100% will have an incremental effect on the location each time you run the brush over that spot until it's 100% back to it's original state.

[GTAltman]

Originally Posted by autofocus

Might be how you had the opacity set on the brush. Any setting less than 100% will have an incremental effect on the location each time you run the brush over that spot until it's 100% back to it's original state.

Thanks Auto...I'll look into that tomorrow. I'm done for now. ;-) I'll find something else to turn for B&W to something with a splash of color!

GTA