Creating a colour splash
Introduction
Often used in advertising, the colour splash in a black and white photo can prove a very artistic and attention grabbing device. It is such an easy thing to do too. If you have followed along with the previous Layer Masking tutorials here and here, this one will be a cinch! (If you haven’t I suggest you look at these too.)
For this tutorial, we begin by using a colour photo. The image will be converted to greyscale or black and white, and the centre of focus will be turned back into colour with the magic of a Layer Mask. The image I will be using is taken from the Image Collection that is part of the Serif PhotoPlus Studio Extras Resource CD. If you want to follow with this image, it is found in the Lifestyles and Art folder, reference 38066711.jpg.
Just a quick word about image size; if this image is to be part of the images placed on your website or in a scrapbooking project, it is best to work on the largest size you have. If you downsize the image to actual dimensions for the page or project first, you will be trying to create a Layer Mask with fewer pixels, this can create problems when trying to mask out complex areas. With fewer pixels more information (colours and details) are combined into a smaller area, making masking a nightmare. It is always best to begin with the full size image, mask accordingly and then downsize. The final product will be so much better looking and worth the time taken.
Just a quick word about image size; if this image is to be part of the images placed on your website or in a scrapbooking project, it is best to work on the largest size you have. If you downsize the image to actual dimensions for the page or project first, you will be trying to create a Layer Mask with fewer pixels, this can create problems when trying to mask out complex areas. With fewer pixels more information (colours and details) are combined into a smaller area, making masking a nightmare. It is always best to begin with the full size image, mask accordingly and then downsize. The final product will be so much better looking and worth the time taken.
Please run your mouse over this image to see the before and after states.
Hmm... What does this image convey to you? Perhaps...
“Get stuck into a good book and add some real colour to your life.”
Hmm... What does this image convey to you? Perhaps...
“Get stuck into a good book and add some real colour to your life.”
“Everything pales to insignificance when you’ve a good book in your hand.”
Thoughts on a postcard please!
Please roll your mouse over this image to see the before and after states
Step One
Start up Serif PhotoPlus and open up the colour photo you wish to use, as mentioned above, for this I will be using 38066711.jpg found in the Lifestyles and Art folder of the Image Collection that is part of the Serif PhotoPlus Studio Extras Resource CD. Save this image as colour-splash.spp (a PhotoPlus file, not as a jpg and not under the same name as your existing photo). We have now made this image a copy of the original, and are no longer working with the original file. Any changes we make from now on will not affect our original file; all work will be carried out on this copy. This provides a ‘failsafe’ should we want to use our original image in a new project.
On the Layer tab, select the background layer, right click and choose Duplicate (call it greyscale). A colour duplicate of the background layer is added above – don’t worry, we will sort out the colour in the next step.
On the Layer tab, select the background layer, right click and choose Duplicate (call it greyscale). A colour duplicate of the background layer is added above – don’t worry, we will sort out the colour in the next step.
Step Two
Now we change this new layer to greyscale using one of two options, both have the same end result although one has greater (finer) adjustment options available to us.
The ‘straight forward’ way:
With the second layer selected, in the menu bar go to Image>Adjust> and choose the Greyscale option. For PhotoPlus X2 owners you can either accept the defaults or have a play around with the sliders to see the difference adjusting the colour values make. I quite liked the greater contrast R25 G36 B48 value, it gives this image a bit more ‘drama’, play around to find a setting that suits the style you are looking for.
Previous versions do not have the sliders, the defaults are pretty good though, so don’t worry.
Previous versions do not have the sliders, the defaults are pretty good though, so don’t worry.
Alternatively, the more ‘refined’ way:
Only available with PhotoPlus X2:
With the second layer selected, in the menu bar go to Image>Adjust>Black and white film. Again, either accept the defaults or have a play around with the sliders to see the difference adjusting these colour values has on the image. You will notice the far more subtle changes available with these sliders. It is great fun playing with the sliders, tinting is great too! There’s always the ‘reset’ button to return to the original setting. For the purpose of this tutorial, I went for the default values.
With the second layer selected, in the menu bar go to Image>Adjust>Black and white film. Again, either accept the defaults or have a play around with the sliders to see the difference adjusting these colour values has on the image. You will notice the far more subtle changes available with these sliders. It is great fun playing with the sliders, tinting is great too! There’s always the ‘reset’ button to return to the original setting. For the purpose of this tutorial, I went for the default values.
Note: if you have ever taken black and white photograps using the coloured lenses (primarily red and green filters), either of these options and sliders will be familiar to you, increasing the green boosts (or lightens) the greens in a picture for example. Both methods provide an excellent variation in tonal range, bringing out sky and clouds, enhancing vegetation etc.
Step Three
With our ‘Greyscale’ layer still selected we are about to begin the fun part of painting back the colour. There are two ways we can approach this. Either as a ‘well defined’ black and white to colour change, or, for a softer approach, a blend between black and white with a hint of colour section(s) peeking through. We will look at both ways.
First the ‘well defined’ way.
In the second Layer Masking tutorial we used the polygon lasso and will do so with this image too. Once we have traced round the outside of the object we wish to highlight, invert the selection (Select>Invert or Shift+Ctrl+I) and simply click on the mask icon and immediately our object is back in full colour. The mask has punched a hole through the greyscale layer to the colour ‘Background’ layer beneath.
Hmm… we have a problem though, there is some colour bleeding into the part we wish to keep as greyscale. We’ll fix this with some painting of the mask back in, just as we did with this Layer Masking tutorial. Please refer back to this tutorial if you are at all unfamiliar with Layer masking. If the concept is entirely new then why not take this opportunity to look back at the first Layer Masking tutorial?
One thing to remember though, for this image we are ‘punching a hole’ through the mask rather than the background as in the Layer masking 2 tutorial. This time we are painting the black and white background back in, so we use the white swatch.
Two tips:
Corners: Where the calf meets the book there’s a pretty sharp corner, rather than swapping to a small brush and trying to carefully paint the edges perfectly, paint into the ‘keep’ part and paint back from the other side with a white brush tip.
Grass: If we’re not careful this can creep into our image and give an unwanted green tinge. There are two options, paint the mask to the edge of the colour section and paint out the nooks and cranny's of the blades of grass using a finer brush. It really depends on the final output. If it is a reduced size image for the web, then the former suggestion is best, if, on the other hand, you would like to print this image out at much the same size, then the only thing to do is the latter and paint out the grass stems with a fine brush. If this is what you plan to do, try to ensure no pixels have the slightest hint of the other colour - it is better to widen the brush stroke slightly in order to retain the greyscale than have the wrong colour tinting the main focus of our attention.
Let’s do the interesting part first. Selecting our greyscale image, go to Effects>Other>Comic Book. Set the Levels slider to 7 and click on OK. The effect makes quite a difference to this image!
Without making a selection as we did above we continue by adding a plain mask and gradually paint in our mask with the black swatch. Choose a large soft round brush for good coverage (I went for 100 pixels on this image). Selecting the black swatch, lower the brush opacity to around 15% and begin to paint the area of the mask away where you want the coloured layer to show through.
We need to create one smooth brush stroke encompassing our shape. Try not to stop painting (take your finger off the mouse button or lift the pen off the graphics pad) until you have covered the entire shape. Subsequent ‘painting’ in of the mask will increase the amount of colour showing through and we don’t want a ‘banded’ appearance where brush strokes have overlapped in the main colour section.
Media brushes can create some great effects too, but we would need to use a higher opacity for their strokes to show through the mask otherwise they would blend too much.
Without making a selection as we did above we continue by adding a plain mask and gradually paint in our mask with the black swatch. Choose a large soft round brush for good coverage (I went for 100 pixels on this image). Selecting the black swatch, lower the brush opacity to around 15% and begin to paint the area of the mask away where you want the coloured layer to show through.
We need to create one smooth brush stroke encompassing our shape. Try not to stop painting (take your finger off the mouse button or lift the pen off the graphics pad) until you have covered the entire shape. Subsequent ‘painting’ in of the mask will increase the amount of colour showing through and we don’t want a ‘banded’ appearance where brush strokes have overlapped in the main colour section.
Media brushes can create some great effects too, but we would need to use a higher opacity for their strokes to show through the mask otherwise they would blend too much.
Secondly, the ‘soft’ approach.
As an alternative option, if the desired effect is for a far more subtle, softer colour gently breaking through, we approach it differently. This next part will provide the basic information that can be applied to picking out the a single feature from a black and white image - the lips or eyes for example, a rainbow in a landscape, I’m sure there are many other examples you can think of.
Although subtle, we are going for a fairly bold statement with our example image. Using this method we can give this image a real ‘graphic’ look turning it into something more immediate, contemporary and interesting at the same time.
Don’t worry too much about going over the edge (although I stayed above the lower grass edge in this version), because 15% opacity has limited effect, unlike 100% opacity. This setting has the advantage of allowing for a slight 'glow' to the area below if we go over the edges. You can even stop after applying a couple of ‘coats’ with a brush as the subtlety may well suit the look you’re after. If you make a mistake with the mask either undo and have another go or, if the last stroke was complex and it is only just a tiny bit out, swap the black swatch for the white swatch - this will paint over any mistakes. Just remember to swap back to the black swatch to continue to paint the mask out.
For the example image I left it at four ‘coats’. This brought enough of the colour back in without removing too much of the comic book effect and seems to go with the graphic quality of the new background.
For the example image I left it at four ‘coats’. This brought enough of the colour back in without removing too much of the comic book effect and seems to go with the graphic quality of the new background.
Going back to our first version above, if the desire is to have our colours really 'pop' out of the image, a simple blending mode is the answer. Return to the original background layer and duplicate this again, the new copy will be sandwiched between the background and greyscale layers. Change the blend mode to screen, overlay (as in this example) or multiply - play around with these a bit on this layer. Find one that suits your image. The amount of blending can be adjusted by using the opacity slider setting of this layer. Our example is set to Overlay and has the opacity adjusted to 33%.
This can be used on either type of colour splash. The softer type with lips or eyes can really be made to stand out and jump off the screen or page at you.
It can be quite effective with the Comic book image too because the mask still retains some of the effects used with the added impetus of colour blazing through. I used 100% Overlay for our second example.
This can be used on either type of colour splash. The softer type with lips or eyes can really be made to stand out and jump off the screen or page at you.
It can be quite effective with the Comic book image too because the mask still retains some of the effects used with the added impetus of colour blazing through. I used 100% Overlay for our second example.
Step four
The final images
A colour splash in a black and white photo
A colour splash in a Comic Book style photo
If you have managed to stick with me, thank you... if you need further help or clarification, please contact me, either directly through my contact page or via flickr mail - I am happy to try and help.
Ken (Major Confusion)
