This is another pose from my maternity session a couple of weeks ago. This mom really liked the pregnancy photos that emphasized her belly rather than her face (which was beautiful!).
How long would it take you to selectively color a black and white image in Photoshop? Because it would take me about 30 minutes. You all know how much I hate anything that involves selections or detailed painting in Photoshop.
This edit seriously took me about 30 seconds in Lightroom. No selecting involved!
Selective Color in Lightroom
- Open an image in Lightroom’s Develop Mode
- In the Develop panel, scroll down to the HSL/Color/Grayscale section.
- Select HSL, and Saturation.
- Reduce the saturation completely down to -100 for all 8 colors.
- Grab the Targeted Adjustment Tool and click and drag up on a part of the image that you want to color.
- Stop dragging when you’re happy with the color.
- If color re-appeared in other sections of you image that you didn’t want to color, click on the Saturation Adjustment Brush. Reduce the saturation to -100, and brush over the areas that you want to remain B&W. Make sure that Auto Mask is checked. This technique might be difficult on photos with lots of color variation throughout the image, but Lightroom’s Auto Mask feature might help even those!
Haven’t bought Lightroom yet? Download a free trial here.
Enjoy your Lightroom-ing! If you try this and have questions, comment on them! I hope this works for everyone else as well as me.
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
I just downloaded the free trial this weekend…I’m intimidated!! But…I’m determined to figure it out since you and Rita have raved so much about it. Keep the tutorials coming…especially in the next 28 days!
.-= wayoutnumbered´s last blog ..Pretty Little Girly Dainty Feet =-.
I think you will love it, especially since you are officially doing photo sessions now. I’d love to hear your questions/tutorial suggestions.
Erin
uuhhh I’m so going to try this. I’m with you on not liking to select stuff and to be honest, I haven’t played with Lightroom 2.1 all that much because it’s quite a bit different and with the time constraint, it’s easier for me to go to PS since I’m more familiar with it. But can see the benefits of LR, I can’t wait to try this tonight after I get home. Thanks so much!!!!
.-= Micki Harper´s last blog ..“Contemplative” Photo Series =-.
Thank you so much for the tip!!! I tried it this weekend and oh boy is it ever easy! You can see my results on my blog.
Wow, those are some seriously green soccer uniforms! Thank you for sharing! That is the perfect color to use this method on, since it’s unlikely that anything else in the picture would be that color. I’m glad it worked for you!
Thanks for the lightroom tip. I am just about to purchase light room and was wondering if you can suggest the best place to learn how to use it from scratch..I much prefer video tutorials…..I love what light room can do and i cant wait to get started. But of course I need to learn how to use it first. any suggestions?
thanks so much.
gail
Hi Gail! I know there are videos on this site, and lots of great non video tips as well. http://www.lightroomkillertips.com/2009/worth-a-click-6/
I think the Lightroom 2 Book for Digital Photographers is the best place to start. It’s by Scott Kelby.
great tip..thanks so much..Love your site.
Gail
thanks for the tip on selective color…i am trying to follow along but alas i dont know what the targeted adjustment tool is… ???? is that the sliders that i just took down to -100%?? thanks for any help or any other place to see this tutorial
Hi Bobbie,
Activate the targeted adjustment tool by clicking on the small circle to the left of the word Saturation above the Saturation sliders. This will turn your cursor into a tool that will adjust the saturation of only the color that you have clicked on, as you click and drag up or down (to increase or decrease saturation).
Erin
thanks erin will give that a try
been using lightroom for a while and have been wishing for an easy way to do selective coloring. Thanks!
Thanks a lot for this tip, it was VERY VERY helpful
What do I do different if I only want the eyes blue but there are other blue items in the picture. When I follow these steps it turns everything blue to blue. I only want the eyes to be blue, nothing else…… thanks for the tips I appreciate them!