Once it’s installed go to Lightroom’s Library module and select the photo you want to edit. If you don’t have Silver Efex Pro 2 already, you can download it for free from the official Nik Collection website. It’s a good photo to use as the colors are subtle. I’d like to show you how to use it for making a selective color portrait with a subtle effect that almost looks like an old style hand-tinted black and white print. Silver Efex Pro 2 is one of my favorite black and white plug-ins. Selective coloring using Silver Efex Pro 2 In this case, it worked out okay, but you should always zoom in and double check, especially when changing the color settings of Red, Orange or Yellow hues, as this can have some strange effects on skin tones. Reducing the saturation of the orange paint also affected the model’s skin. In the photo above reducing the saturation of the pink paint affected the model’s dress, which is also pink. One key thing to be aware of is how the colors in your photo are related. This is a before and after of the final portrait showing these extra adjustments. This time using the Targeted Adjustment tool on the pink and orange paintwork on the wall, resulted in the following saturation settings. I took it further by repeating the technique. When I did this, Lightroom set Blue to -80 and Purple to -10. The matching color sliders in the HSL panel move to the left. Lightroom reads the pixels under the cross representing the Targeted Adjustment tool and reduces the saturation of those colors across the entire image. In this case, the foreground has a blue cast that I want to remove, so I chose this spot (marked by the small cross circled in red below).Ĭlick and hold the button as you move the mouse downward. Move the cursor over part of the image that you want to desaturate. Click the Saturation tab, then the Targeted Adjustment tool (marked below) to activate it. Go to the HSL / Color / B&W panel in the Develop module. That will help the subtle colors in the model’s dress and skin to stand out. I’m not going to remove the color completely, but I would like to make it more monochromatic. The next portrait (below) has a more colorful foreground. Selective coloring in Lightroom using the HSL Some of the model’s clothes are black or charcoal gray, so introducing this color into the background fits with the overall aesthetic of the image.Ģ.The rocks in the background have plenty of texture, which looks good in black and white.It wouldn’t work as well with a colorful background. There are several reasons it works well with this portrait. It’s important that you chose the correct image for this technique to get the best effect. Play around and see what works best for your image. Don’t forget you don’t have to move Saturation all the way to zero – you can simply lower it to reduce the color intensity of the background. That removes all color from the background, giving this effect. Paint in the background to create a mask (as shown below). Start by going to the Develop module and activating the Adjustment Brush tool. The simple background means it’s ideal to use for a selective color portrait. This is the portrait that I am going to work with for this technique. The first example, below, shows what you can do in Lightroom. Selective color in Lightroom using the Adjustment Brush The first two techniques below are for Lightroom, the third uses Silver Efex Pro 2, a free plug-in you can download from Google. I prefer to keep my workflow within Lightroom whenever possible as it saves hard drive space and makes the entire photography workflow much simpler. I like to make selective color portraits, but of course you are free to experiment with other subjects as well (but please, no flowers). The key is to keep it subtle and to use it only on suitable photos. It has a bad reputation because it can be used to create some truly horrendous images where the only thing on display is the photographer’s lack of ability.īut the good news is that you can use selective coloring in a far more sophisticated way to create some interesting images. Selective coloring is a post-processing technique where you convert an image to black and white, but leave part of it in color.
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