If you want to have a bit of fun with your computer and show your artistic talents with photographs of your flowers, then here's something you could try.
The technique involves turning a colour photograph into a black-and-white one then adding colour again to specific parts. There are many applications for this process but it could just be simply to highlight a part of your photo that you want viewers to see easily. For example, to pick out a particular flower in a mass of colour from other flowers in a border.
If you own a graphics program that can handle Layers and Layer Masks, such as the Photoshop range, then you can follow this process.
I have listed the procedures below for
Photoshop CS5 and
Photoshop Elements 9.
The photo I have used for this tutorial is a plant of ours called Hemerocallis 'Thundering Ovation' - and I have put the 'before' and 'after' photos together for comparison.
Before:
After:
PHOTOSHOP CS5:
******************
- Open a colour image / photo
- With the Layers panel open, right-mouse click the Background layer and select DUPLICATE LAYER. (Rename it to whatever you want.)
- With the duplicated layer selected (left-mouse click on it ONCE to highlight it), click IMAGE / ADJUSTMENTS / BLACK & WHITE (just click OK to accept the default settings from the pop-up menu).
- With the duplicated layer selected (highlighted), click the ADD LAYER MASK icon at the bottom of the Layers panel
- Make sure the Background and Foreground colours are at their defaults (i.e. Black=Foreground Color, White=Background Color)
- To reveal coloured areas of the original, have BLACK set as the Foreground Color. Select the BRUSH TOOL using a brush size to suit the area to reveal colour, then paint over the areas required
- To remove any coloured areas revealed, e.g. to achieve specific effects, or you reveal too much colour by mistake, set WHITE as the Foreground Color and paint over those areas to make black-and-white again
This is the Layers Palette from
Photoshop CS5 (which I use now), but it is the same in
Photoshop Elements. I have highlighted the areas covered in the tutorial. Next to it is the Color Palette which you can find in the Tool Menu.
That's it. Save your new image under a different filename so you don't lose your original.
PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS 9:
****************************
- Open a colour image / photo
- With the Layers panel open, right-mouse click the Background layer and select DUPLICATE LAYER. (Rename it to whatever you want.)
- With the duplicated layer selected (left-mouse click on it ONCE to highlight it), click ENHANCE / CONVERT TO BLACK & WHITE (just click OK to accept the default settings from the pop-up menu)
- With the duplicated layer selected (highlighted), click the ADD LAYER MASK icon at the bottom of the Layers panel
- Make sure the Background and Foreground colours are at their defaults (i.e. Black=Foreground Color, White=Background Color)
- To reveal coloured areas of the original, have BLACK set as the Foreground Color. Select the BRUSH TOOL using a brush size to suit the area to reveal colour, then paint over the areas required
- To remove any coloured areas revealed, e.g. to achieve specific effects, or you reveal too much colour by mistake, set WHITE as the Foreground Color and paint over those areas to make black-and-white again
That's it. Save your new image under a different filename so you don't lose your original.
If you want to try this out, and get stuck with any of the steps, just jump right in and ask
Have fun.
Laurie.
