B&W pics with colorized pieces?

[tag]

So I was looking at a picture today (this one) and I thought, well this is cool, and was wondering how this is done? I was playing around in Gimp (Haven't gotten around to saving up for photoshop yet ) and couldn't recreate that type of image effect very well.

Does anyone know the typical way something like this is done? I tried a few things including having 2 layers of the same image and then making the top layer B&W, then cutting out the eyes to show the bottom layers color, while this didn't turn out the greatest it did kind of work. And then I guess to change the eye color I could false color the colored bottom layer?

Or perhaps just hand selecting they iris and adding color to a grey image?

I couldn't find any thing of real substance on google information wise so any small nudges would be apprectiated.

 

[cgratti]

create a copied layer above the origional, then desaturate it. Use the eraser to erase the top B&W layer of the iris, exposing the colored iris below. Use a soft brush on the eraser.

 

[tag]

Ok great, time to play around with some of my photos. Thanks for the info cgratti.

 

[homerjward]

i do it slightly differently than cgratti. i select the object i want in color (wand, marquee, paint a quick mask, whatever) then invert the selection and desaturate.

 

[tag]

Alrighty, well its always good to have more options than less Thanks homerjward I'll give that a go too.

 

[ITASOR]

Wow, that is a really cool effect man. I gotta try this in Photoshop now.

May I ask how you "desaturate" the top layer? I understand everything else besides that. I also understand that desaturating the colors in it will make it b/w, I just don't know how to do it. Thanks! and thanks to the OP for a good idea!

EDIT: NVM, got it! Image-->Adjustments-->Desaturate! Thanks!

 

[ITASOR]

Not the super coolest picture to do it with, but this is what I did with a pic of my desk (when it was clean.):

Thanks tag, for this thread again, this is fun.

 

[cgratti]

whatever way works best for you then go with it.

Here are 2 shots I made awhile back. The first one is the selective color and the 2nd is my daughter in a jar..LOL

 

[homerjward]

i figured i'd do one just for fun, and i tried cgratti's method. it seems much easier!

 

[homerjward]

whatever way works best for you then go with it.

Here are 2 shots I made awhile back. The first one is the selective color and the 2nd is my daughter in a jar..LOL

that bridge looks really great!

 

[ITASOR]

whatever way works best for you then go with it.

Here are 2 shots I made awhile back. The first one is the selective color and the 2nd is my daughter in a jar..LOL

I know this is kinda weird, but where is that bridge, I've been over a bring that looked exactly the same down to the tree locations and sign locations.....I looked at the picture and had a flashback.

 

[tag]

Ok these are fun to do. I really need to go out tomorrow and take some good photos that I can use specifically for messing around with in this way (All my most recent shots are nature ones and trees seem to be the hardest thing to do since they have so many open spots showing background). Anyways, tonight I'm just playing around with random pictures.

 

[cgratti]

I know this is kinda weird, but where is that bridge, I've been over a bring that looked exactly the same down to the tree locations and sign locations.....I looked at the picture and had a flashback.

The bridge is in central pa. Have ou ever been to Knoebels Amusement Park in Elysburg PA?

It's close to there.

 

[erickkoch]

I was experimenting with the same colorizing using Photoshop Elements 3. Here's an example of a pic I was experimenting with. It's not great but it was my first attempt:

 

[ITASOR]

The bridge is in central pa. Have ou ever been to Knoebels Amusement Park in Elysburg PA?

It's close to there.

I don't think so. I was in/around Akron PA, if you know where that is.

 

[cgratti]

I don't think so. I was in/around Akron PA, if you know where that is.

i know where that is, not even close to where this bridge is.. LOL

 

[joepunk]

And here I am doing this the hard way by actually painting in the colours layer by layer over a B/W photo. Takes me a few hours to get it right.

 

[PlaceofDis]

i did this awhile back, what i did was change everything to B&W, then selected the area i wanted to change, and then used the RGB sliders to adjust it to the color i wanted. i then inverted my selection to do the filter.

 

[tag]

Oh man I remember going to Knoebels when I was little. I loved that merry mixer ride .. I could spin around forever it was fun ( and I remember going off season and the operator guy letting us ride for like half hour strait w/ no stopping since no one else was around lol) Good times.

Man but what in the world is that Knoebel mascot? A mouse? A gopher? A half-man half-woodchuck abomination of science?

 

[Sdashiki]

You can do this a zillion different ways, of which I will name none.

I just have to say that a realistic look iris is a tough thing to achieve if it wasnt already there in the photo to begin with. And that in every case doing this effect you have to make sure you arent just slapping color over something, and are instead "colorizing it", not coloring it.

if this was a coloring book, use the paintbrush tool.

if you want to desaturate selected parts, make sure it actually looks like what you want and not some cheap immitation. Which can be very easy to do in Photoshop sometimes.

 

[tag]

You can do this a zillion different ways, of which I will name none.

I just have to say that a realistic look iris is a tough thing to achieve if it wasnt already there in the photo to begin with. And that in every case doing this effect you have to make sure you arent just slapping color over something, and are instead "colorizing it", not coloring it.

Yeah I know what you mean, I searched through all my photos and I didn't have one with a great eye closeup that showed any type of good details, of course I'm currently shooting with a crappy low megapixel powershot camera, though this christmas I'm saving up for a SLR camera, so hopefully then I'll have some good material to work with. But until then I guess I'll just play around and experiment.

 

[Josh]

I prefer to create a new hue/saturation adjustment layer, and then create the necessary mask. That way, the original layer isn't messed with, and many adjustments and refinements can be easily made.

As said above though, there literally are a zillion ways to do this, and no one way is better than another. Depends on personal preference is all.

 

[tag]

Just wanted to say thanks for everyones different methods and suggestions. (Been playing with them all ) I just keep finding more and more to do image editing wise, while I love Gimp, soon I think I may just be upgrading to PS (Especially since it seems one of my fonts, but who knows which one, keeps crashing the Gimp when I scroll through my font list ).

 

[ITASOR]

i know where that is, not even close to where this bridge is.. LOL

Oh, well they have bridges there that look pretty darned close.

 

[cgratti]

Oh man I remember going to Knoebels when I was little. I loved that merry mixer ride .. I could spin around forever it was fun ( and I remember going off season and the operator guy letting us ride for like half hour strait w/ no stopping since no one else was around lol) Good times.

Man but what in the world is that Knoebel mascot? A mouse? A gopher? A half-man half-woodchuck abomination of science?

I think its suppose to be some kind of baby bear.. they have alot of bears in the park as themes. They do need an upgrade on their logos and stuff, maybe i'll give them a call. LOL