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Selective Color is a post processing technique where most of a photo is converted to black and white, but some parts are left in color. This is usually achieved by using layers and masks in photo editing software ( Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro, for example ). Adobe Photoshop is a bitmap graphics editor (with some text and vector graphics capabilities) published by Adobe Systems. ...
Paint Shop Pro (PSP) is a bitmap graphics editor and vector graphics editor for computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system that was originally published by Minneapolis-based Jasc Software. ...
 Flowers from Pike's Place in Seattle. A common application for selective color is portraiture, to keep the eyes and sometimes the lips in color, against an otherwise black and white photograph. Small bits of color in an otherwise monochrome image immediately draw the viewer's eye. City nickname Emerald City City bird Great Blue Heron City flower Dahlia City mottos The City of Flowers The City of Goodwill City song Seattle, the Peerless City Mayor Greg Nickels County King County Area - Total - Land - Water - % water 369. ...
Portrait photography has been around since the invention and popularisation of the camera, and is a cheaper and often more accessible method than portrait painting, which had been used by distinguished figures before the use of the camera. ...
Something which is monochromatic has a single color. ...
Landscape photography is another common application for this technique. Colorful leaves in an otherwise drab scene can breathe life into a photo. Of course the technique can be applied to any genre, but portraits and landscapes are the usual beneficiaries.
How-to
One starts with a color photograph, copies certain elements to a second layer, and then converts the background to black and white. The technique can be time consuming, but it's not difficult; the most challenging part of the entire process is building a selection around the elements that are to remain in color.
While this is clearly associated with digital photography, the same effect could be achieved with film scanned into the computer. Selective color is a product of the digital darkroom rather than digital cameras themselves. Digital Darkroom is a phrase used to describe all of the software and techniques used in digital photography that have replaced the old darkroom equivilents, such as enlarging, cropping, etc. ...
A SiPix digital camera next to a matchbox to show scale. ...
Pop Culture Selective color was popularized somewhat by Schindler's List. Schindlers List is an Academy Award-winning 1993 movie based on the book Schindlers Ark by Thomas Keneally, published in the United States as Schindlers List and subsequently re-issued in Commonwealth countries under that name as well. ...
The effect became a temporary fad among wedding photographers soon after. Soon the effect stopped being unique, and lost some of its impact. Selective color images became "old hat," in the way that song that's heard too often becomes "played out."
See Also A black-and-white portrait. ...
Something which is monochromatic has a single color. ...
Sepia tone is a type of monochrome photographic image in which the picture appears in shades of brown as opposed to greyscale as in a black-and-white image. ...
This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...
Digital Darkroom is a phrase used to describe all of the software and techniques used in digital photography that have replaced the old darkroom equivilents, such as enlarging, cropping, etc. ...
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