[vulkan75]

Ok Im about to embark on a software learning curve(elements 5)and I wanted to try something imparticular.

I have a photograph which i would like to be in black and white.However in the picture there is a rainbow which i would like to keep colour.

I have messed about with layers and the magic extracter tool but all my results show that ive been potchng with the image .

can anyone straight forwardly explain:-How i can acheive the above, seemlessy using elements 5.

Thanks Alex

[SeanT]

Apparently elements still has a quick mask mode, not sure how you activate it, might be slightly different, however in photoshop I would:

Select the rainbow by your preferred method (probably multiple magic wand or lassoo)
Switch to quick mask
You can now use all the drawing tools to adjust your selection - areas clearly visible are in the selection, areas shaded out in red are not included
Switch quick mask off, now just the perfectly outlined rainbow is selected
Ctrl-Shift-I (invert selection) and convert the rest of the image to black and white / greyscale / sepia by whatever method you like to use.

[grantsteve]

Wabbitt is your man, he is the photoshop guru - I followed a masking guide he posted to do my comp entry for last month and it worked well.

I have been searching for the thread that it was in but I can't find it.

Send him a PM, I'm sure he'll be more than happy to point you in the right direction.

[tontoshorse]

From Scott Kelbys book:
open photo
go under the layer menu, under new, and choose Layer via copy. This will duplicate the background layer onto its own layer.
Press B to get the brush tool, choose a medium (65px), soft brush. In the options bar change the Mode pop up menu to Colour for the brush tool.
Set foreground colour to black by pressing D and begin painting on the photo.
The goal is to paint away all the colour except from the bit you want left.

hope it helps
ps get the book - its tip top.

and just found this
link

[vulkan75]

Thanks guys realy helpful advice,especialy tontohorse that lnk to senus post was realy simple to follow.

Ive be trying out the edit but not getting natural looking results.By that I mean,Ive got the rainbow in colour and the rest in black and white but it has a real obvious outline.
I had issues with the selection as the rainbow naturaly blends into the grey sky by ever so slight gradients and it is virtually impossible to outline .So my selection looks hard and artifical.

any tips on feathering my selection into the main image so that it looks natural.

thanks

[beachy]

i seen another post quite recently about this, it mentioned changing the photo to black and white, and then going over the part you want to change back to colour with the history brush, i can't seem to find that post now, anyone have any idea what thread it was in

[senu]

Originally Posted by vulkan75

Thanks guys realy helpful advice,especialy tontohorse that lnk to senus post was realy simple to follow.

Ive be trying out the edit but not getting natural looking results.By that I mean,Ive got the rainbow in colour and the rest in black and white but it has a real obvious outline.
I had issues with the selection as the rainbow naturaly blends into the grey sky by ever so slight gradients and it is virtually impossible to outline .So my selection looks hard and artifical.

any tips on feathering my selection into the main image so that it looks natural.

thanks

You may have to experiment with the amount of feathering (start with 50 pixels) you chose at the point of making the selection, and/ or add a soft shadow to blur out the transition
A little trick may also involve experimenting with the opacity of the layers to see if less than 100% on one or the other will achieve the "perfect" blend
You can of course post the original and lets have a bit of a play with it

Originally Posted by beachy

i seen another post quite recently about this, it mentioned changing the photo to black and white, and then going over the part you want to change back to colour with the history brush, i can't seem to find that post now, anyone have any idea what thread it was in

The history brush is only available in the full Photoshop ( which I use in addition to Elements ( when I'm not fussed about which Ive clicked on,) but sensible workarounds exist in Elements for most things
There are some 3rd Party software on CDs that come with Self help Tutorial Books .
Similarly quick mask mentioned in an above post is not available in Elements but there is an adjustment layer
I dont have Elements 5 but it does seem to have a lot more than Ver 3 ( and a bit more than ver 4 though) . The problem ( With many of Adobes quite capable software) is that advanced editing features are often hidden away in menus unless you know where to find them

I also second the Sentiment about Scott Kelbys' Books mentioned earlier: PC World stocks them and you can easily just peruse them there (without initially buying) to see if you will like them

[vulkan75]

Thanks guys, for all your help.

The end result can be seen in this months comp (Paxtons Tower).

Hopefully it dont crash and burn,,heheehe

cheers guys