6 posts tagged “photography”
I wrote this tutorial for the technique group on Flickr about four years ago and it started a bit of a 'masking' craze. I haven't used Paint Shop Pro since then. I'm fully converted to Photoshop now. I also rarely convert an image to partial black and white these days. That ship has sailed for me it seems.
End Result
This can be accomplished in Photoshop and Paintshop Pro (and surely other software as well) but I chose to write my tutorial based on the method I used in Paint Shop Pro, since there are many tutorials out there on how to accomplish this in Photoshop but I had never seen one on Paint Shop Pro using my method.
Many of you probably already have Photoshop and not Paint Shop Pro.. but PSP is easy to come by. You can download a free trial at jasc.com. It's much cheaper than Photoshop, so those of you who are currently without a good digital image editor, you might want to think about getting yourself a copy. I used PSP 6, so while some things have probably changed in the newer versions, I am sure they left the options named the same.
First let me just say that it's my opinion that a good masking job never ruins a photo.. but merely adds to it, whereas an awful masking job obviously turns a photo into an eyesore. Practice the method until it doesn't fall into the later category or I will gouge my own eyes out upon viewing your photo.
Deciding which image would look better partial black and white (and for what reasons) is up to you. Decide on an image.. and which parts you want turned black and white and which left in color and then open it in PSP. If you want to edit it any other way (contrast.. color balance) then do it BEFORE you convert it to partial black and white. It's best to start with an image that will be easier to edit. Don't pick an image that's too busy for your first try. Pick an image where the part (or parts) that will remain in color don't have too many twists and turns. Tricky edges are a bitch.
To the right is my before image. I wanted to turn everything but the Sexy BC Rich Warlock black and white.
Once your image is opened..click on the 'retouch' tool and an option window will pop up. In my version it's a little hand icon. (Noted in the 'at work" screencap below) From the retouch option window.. click the middle tab (might be positioned differently in your version) and select saturation down from the retouch mode. Then go back to the first tab, and make sure that your paintbrush is set for round and that opacity is set at 100%. You should set the size of the brush higher to start and go lower the closer you get to the parts of the image you want left in color.
Conversion in Process
You will need to look at the larger version to make out the toolbars.
Essentially what you will be doing is drawing out the color. Every part of the photo that you want converted to black and white, you need to draw on. Zoom in and out if need be. Just make sure you cover every pixel that is suppose to be B&W. I normally start by drawing out the color further away from the parts of the image I want left in color.. then I work my way in.. decreasing the size of the brush (and zooming into the photo) the closer I get to parts that are to be left colororized. It gets tricky when you have to do the edges on what remains color and what is to be converted black and white. It's just like trying to stay between the lines in a coloring book, and i'm sure that's something you all can figure out.
The important thing is that you know the method used.. and you work with it. It's nothing more than using the retouch tool in Paint Shop Pro to 'color' the saturation out.
Here are some more examples. All done within PaintShop Pro (NOT Photoshop).
There is a Cutouts group on Flickr and they have links to tutorials on how this can be accomplished in Photoshop and other software.
My Aunt's old Cadillac. May it rest in peace. This Caddy saved my life once.
I don't like driving in the dark, hate driving in the rain, am scared to drive on ice and damn sure hate to be caught in a hailstorm. One early winter morning nearly a decade ago all those things hit me at once. I was driving this very Cadillac at the time and thank God for that. It's like a damn Tank.
It was before sunset and the roads were iced over. That was enough to make me nervous.. then it started drizzling rain and I thought to myself "Holy Crap". A few minutes later Hail the size of softballs started beating the hell ouf of the Car (just the noise was enough to scare the hell out of you) and I pulled over (slowly because of the icey road) terrified it was going to break the windshield. It never did. Had I not been driving this Tank that morning who knows what would have happened.
God bless you Cadillac.
Vine didn't really want his photo made. I had to threaten him with bodily harm. Threatening subjects with bodily harm usually works like a charm. Just a tip. This of course only works when you know said subjects well. I wouldn't suggest running up to someone on the street and trying the same. I do believe you'd end up in jail for that.
Shot outside in the rain because Texas Weather is just insane. One minute sunny... the next freezing. Not a cloud in the sky? It's probably going to rain then.
I have a serious obsession with scarves. I buy a ton of them not only for photoshoots, but also because I love wearing them. That and socks. Those are my weakness.
This suspension bridge.. and this photo might seem even more creepy if you know the embarrassing truth. We were actually lost in the woods for quite awhile when we stumbled upon this bridge and remained lost for quite some time after we finished this photo shoot.
I've never been seriously lost in the woods before and trust me.. i've been in my fair share of woods growing up in Texas. In fact, we'd been in these very woods many times before without getting even a little disoriented. I am still bewildered as to how we managed to venture so far off course and end up so far south west when I KNOW we were walking north east the majority of the time.
When we finally emerged from the woods and saw the area we had parked in the vast distance, the 3 of us were like "how in the hell did we end up in this direction when we were walking in the other over half the time?" The only logical explanation is that we were abducted by aliens... memories altered.. and dropped back too far from where the original abduction occurred. I suppose aliens can make mistakes too.
There was a police car parked a little ways down the backroad from where we shot a little red riding hood set. When we were driving up we thought it odd. Rarely does anyone travel down that road, and there are no houses nearby. It was miles into the backwoods and if I'm not mistaken they were out of their jurisdiction. What could they be policing?
We asked them if the bridge was out. They said no. We asked if there was an escaped convict.. they said no. They claimed they were just doing some paperwork. Paperwork in the middle of nowhere? Okay. They did ask us not to get them in the photographs. Oh really? My first shot was of their squad car... just in case they were psycho cops out in the bottoms smoking the crack and decided to murder..maim.. kill all witnesses. Paranoid? A bit.
They stayed parked there during most of the photoshoot. They only left after another vechicle drove up. Surprisingly enough it was my cousin who did not seem shocked at all to find me photographing little red riding hood in the middle of nowhere. I guess now that the bottoms are dry everyone wants to use them as a shortcut.
