Buy. Download. Create. Get Photoshop CS3 now at the Adobe Store.
Photoshop for Students. Get super savings at the Adobe Academic Store.
Hand Colouring A Black And White Photo In Photoshop - Photoshop Tutorial
You can hand colour a black and white photograph in Photoshop in a number of ways. In this tutorial, I’m looking at how to add colour by making selections and using adjustment layers. Let me preface this by saying, THIS EFFECT DOES NOT LOOK NATURAL! It will not look like a colour photograph, but is great for a retro look and can be good fun on old pictures. However, nobody will mistake it for an original colour picture.
Step 1
Open up a black and white photo. I’m using this image from “Vertigo” by Alfred Hitchcock. I got it from movieweb.com which is a good source of high resolution movie stills.
Step 2
Choose Image > Mode > RGB to change the photo from greyscale to RGB colour mode. Now we’re going to select different parts of the image and paste them onto new individual layers. The quick mask is helpful here.
Step 3
Select the Quick Mask (Q) and choose a suitable brush size. Start painting on any area of skin in the pic. Painting with black will cover an area in pink-red, this is the part that will be selected.
Step 4
Make sure to leave the eyes out of the selection. If you’ve included them, just change the brush foreground colour to white and paint them out of the selection. You can do this anywhere you’ve made a mistake and “gone outside the lines”.
Step 5
When you’re happy that you have only the skin area selected (no clothes, no eyes, no background!), press Q again to switch from Quick Mask mode back to Normal mode. You will see that the areas you painted in black are now selected. We need to invert this selection now so choose Shift + Ctrl + I (win) or Shift + Cmd + I (mac) to do so.
Step 6
Copy the selection by pressing Ctrl + C (win) or Cmd + C (mac).
Step 7
Paste the selection back in by pressing Ctrl + V (win) or Cmd + V (mac). This will paste the Skin selection into a new layer. Rename the layer in the layers palette (by double-clicking on it’s current name – Layer 1) and call it something like, ehm, Skin.
Step 8
Now repeat steps 3 to 7, so that you have layers for hair, jackets (I did male and female as separate layers), wallpaper and whatever other sections you want to colour in. Your layers palette should end up looking something like this;
Step 9
Now that each part has been isolated, we can start colouring!
Step 10
Click on the skin layer to select it. Choose Layer > New Adjustment > Layer > Color Balance. I’ve named the new adjustment layer “skin” and also hit the checkbox “Use previous layer to create clipping mask” so that a checkmark appears in the box. Click ok.
Step 11
Now the Color Balance dialog box opens and here you can decide what kind of colours you want to set up. If you’re going for an alien look, you might want to give your subject green or blue skin. For my image I used the following settings:
Shadows: +81 -8 -31
Midtones: +12 -7 -17
Highlights: +8 +4 -9
Click OK and you will have set up an adjustment layer that doesn’t alter the pixels in your original image. To go back and change any settings, double click on the thumbnail with the shapes in it.
Looks freakishly cool already!
Step 12
Repeat steps 10 and 11 for every part of the image that you have isolated, setting up adjustment layers and colours as you go. My final image looked like this:
It’s worth spending a bit of time getting your initial selections right, then it’s easy to pick and choose colours with the adjustment layers.
See more Photoshop tutorials from Jennifer Farley.
Photoshop CS3 Upgrade Options And Bundles From The Adobe Store
Photoshop CS3 Extended is ideal for film, video, and multimedia pros and for graphic and web designers using 3D and motion. Get the full version for US $999, or upgrade for US $349. The standard version of Photoshop CS3 is available for US $649, or as an upgrade for US $199. See all upgrade options at the Adobe Store. See our CS3 Resource Center for free Photoshop CS3 tutorials.
Photoshop Extended is also available as part of Adobe Creative Suite 3 Design Premium, which combines all-new CS3 versions of Photoshop, Flash Pro, Dreamweaver, Illustrator, InDesign and Acrobat 8 Pro. Upgrade options for customers in Europe, the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Asia can be found at the Adobe International Store.
Alien Skin Software - Photoshop Plugins - Special 10% & 20% Discounts On All Alien Skin Photoshop Plugins
Our friends at Alien Skin Software have set us up with an exclusive special offer discount link that will give you some sweet savings at their online store.
Just follow this link and you'll see 10% and 20% price drops on their products when you get to the Alien Skin Online Store area (excludes the Eye Candy Bundle, which is already discounted at $199). This special offer includes a discount on Eye Candy: Textures, Eye Candy: Nature, Eye Candy: Impact, Exposure, Blow Up, and their latest release Snap Art.
Snap Art – $149 – our price $129
Blow Up – $199 – our price $179
Exposure – $199 – our price $179
Eye Candy 5: Impact – $99 – our price $79
Eye Candy 5: Nature – $99 – our price $79
Eye Candy 5: Textures – $99 – our price $79
SiteGrinder Photoshop Plugin - Create Websites Instantly
There often seems to be a strict division of labor within the world of web design and development. Creative professionals tend to stick to the Photoshop domain, while those well-versed in scripting are left to the task of implementing their work. Indeed, the two realms are quite different from each other, to which any of us even vaguely familiar with either can easily attest.
Essentially, Photoshop is a no-holds-barred design studio, offering the artist a seemingly endless array of creative options. On the other hand, HTML, CSS, Java and the like follow strict rules of engagement, requiring the developer to take any number of esoteric concerns into consideration in order to ensure that designs are properly displayed on the web.
Turn Photoshop Into A Complete Web Design Tool
SiteGrinder seeks to bridge this gap between design and development. Basically, this program turns Photoshop into an easy-to-use and fully functional web design tool. With SiteGrinder, designers will now have the freedom to totally let their creativity loose and then, without skipping a beat, transfer their designs to the web. Bringing esthetic concerns together with more practical considerations, this program is an amazingly powerful tool that would make a fantastic addition to any web designer's bag of tricks.
Generate Your Web Pages Directly From Photoshop
By generating web pages directly from Photoshop, you'll be able to spend much more time on the creative end of the spectrum, since you'll know right off the bat how well particular designs will translate to the web. No more going back to the Photoshop drawing board after getting a phone call from your development team, telling you that what you had envisioned doesn't have a chance of being displayed on the web. You can immediately visually and interactively test your designs, which permits you to then make changes to either esthetics or functions while it's still relatively early on in the design process.
Pricing and Availability
Mac OS X and Windows versions of the SiteGrinder unlockable demo are available now via download. SiteGrinder can be ordered from Media Lab's online store.
Photoshop CS3 Book - CS3 Essential Skills - By Mark Galer And Philip Andrews
Brimming with beautiful pictures, Photoshop CS3 Essential Skills guides you through a project-based, progressive curriculum so that you can build all the essential skills to enhance photographs creatively and professionally with Photoshop CS3. If you are an aspiring professional, enthusiastic amateur photographer, or a student learning photography, digital imaging, art and design, or design graphics, you'll be amazed at the stunning results you can achieve. A DVD is included free.
The Essential Skills Photography Series from Focal Press uniquely offers a structured learning experience for photographers of all ages, with both the underlying theory and loads of invaluable 'how to' and real-life practice projects - all from the most talented photography practitioners/educators in the world.
Read 2 free sample chapters:
Adjusting Exposure in Adobe Camera Raw CS3
Photoshop CS3 Tutorial High Dynamic Range
Special book offer - save 24%
Photoshop CS3: Essential Skills (Amazon.com - $28.08 - save 24%)
Photoshop CS2 Book - Photoshop CS2: Essential Skills - By Mark Galer And Philip Andrews
An inspirational and user-friendly guide to creative image editing, Photoshop CS2: Essential Skills provides direction for photographers and designers alike who have ventured into the realm of the 'digital darkroom.' The book offers a progressive curriculum to guide you through Photoshop with a series of clear, step-by-step projects designed to place knowledge into a practical context.
Whether you simply want to retouch an image, create a glamour makeover or create a highly sophisticated montage - this book will give you the essential skills to complete the work to a professional standard.
Read 2 free sample chapters:
How To Sharpen An Image In Photoshop — Advanced Sharpening Techniques
Working With Shadows In Photoshop - Advanced Shadow Techniques
Special book offer - save 37%
Photoshop CS2: Essential Skills (Amazon.com - $20.76 - save 37%)
Exclusive 20% Discount On Select Total Training Products & Bundles
To redeem our exclusive discount coupon, use promotion code save20pss in your shopping cart. You could save hundreds of dollars. Use this special link to see the full offer.
Total Training for Adobe Photoshop
Learn Adobe Photoshop with 21 hours of interactive Adobe Photoshop tutorials. This is training for real-world situations and includes additional tips and techniques used by the pros.
View Sample Photoshop, Dreamweaver and Flash Pro Video Tutorials
Free Adobe Photoshop CS3 video tutorials
Free Adobe Photoshop CS2 video tutorials
Free Adobe Dreamweaver video tutorials
Free Adobe Flash Pro video tutorials
