TECHNIQUES - Localised spot colour

Once in a while you may want to emphasise something on a shoot, like these Balinese Borong dancers applying their makeup. I used the full colour image as well, but I felt this treatment suited the moment.

Photoshop methods
There are a number of ways to create this effect.
1. You can use a Layer Mask, using black and white to mask out the colour.
2. You can desaturate the image then use the History Brush to paint back the colour.
3. You can place a black & white copy on top of the colour, then erase everything but the faces on the top one. This way you can adjust the opacity to have just a slight degree of colour.

For these examples I used 3 and I will outline this method using Mac screenshots. Where I indicate (Co) this applies both to Mac ‘Command’ and Windows ‘Control’.

a. In Photoshop open your image.
b. Duplicate this (Co-J) so it sits above the original.
c. Desaturate this layer (Shift-Co-U).
d. Using your Eraser (E) tool, simply erase everything except the face. Use (Co-Z) to undo any mistakes.