There are many techniques used to achieve the “selective color” effect. The effect I am sharing is the one I use most often. I have it recorded as an action so I can use it quickly.
1. Open up a picture to practice on. Also go to Window>Actions to show the Action palette.
2. Click the “Record New Action” button the bottom left of the Actions palette and name your action. I chose to name mine “Selective Color/WarmBW.” The action will now be recording, so be careful that you avoid making even small errors or unnecessary steps.
3. Click the “Default Foreground and Background Colors” button or press the “D” key on your keyboard.
4. Now go to Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Gradient Map. A mask will be created and the default colors will switch for the mask view. We need black to be our foreground color, so you need to now press the “X” key or the “Switch Foreground and Background Colors” button near your color swatches.
5. Select the brush tool (B) and make sure you have a round brush with medium hardness (50-75%).
6. On your Actions palette click on the little arrow to bring out the fly-out menu and select the “Insert Stop” option. You can put instruction in here such as “paint in the parts of the photo you would like in color and press play to finish the action” or leave it blank.
7. Paint in the areas of the photo in which you wish to bring back color, zooming in to keep your edges accurate. (You can zoom in and our using the + and – keys while holding down “Ctrl”).
8. Now select your Move Tool (V) and go to Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Hue/Saturation. You can just high ok, or you can name it. Check the “Colorize” option on the bottom right and drag your “Hue” slider to (30-35) for a nice sepia-like tone and click ok.
9. Make sure your “Hue/Saturation” adjustment layer is selected and change it’s layer mode to “Soft Light” using the drop-down menu located near the top of the layers palette.
10. Use the Move Tool to click on your Background layer. Go to Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Curves. Hit ok and on your curve, click to make a node about 2/3 or ¾ of the way up and drag up and to the left to lighten the faces or any other detail that was darkened by the “Hue/Saturation” layer you made earlier. When you’re happy with how it looks, click ok.
11. Go to Layer>Flatten Image.
12. Go to File>Save As and save your photo in a new location (I like to make a folder directly under my main folder and name it an appropriate name such as “effects” or “selective color.”
13. Go to File>Close or use the short cut “Ctrl+W”14. Back on the Actions palette, click the stop button (Right beside the record button that is active)
You can now use this action on any photo. Select the action you made and hit the “play” button. When the stop appears, just hit “okay” and paint in the part you want in color and click the “play” button the action to finish the action. If you find something goes wrong when you run it again, check the action to see if you added any extra steps (Backing up history states will leave steps the will mess up the action.)Before you save you can duplicate your "Hue/Saturation" Layer to make it more sepia with higher contrast. It's up to you what you want to do now!
I have included an action I created for this effect if you would like to download it and compare. Hopefully you will actually attempt to make this action on your own, since that is how you learn and improve.
Selective Color Action - Download
Enjoy and God bless!
Brittany
