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Surreal Effect

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Jkizzle3993

Technical User
Jun 21, 2006
2
US
does anybody know how to create the surreal effect where a pic is black and white but just a small piece of the pic is colored?
 
there are numerous ways to do this. Depending on the version you have. If you are familiar with the tools, the concept is to mask the object you want colored, create a new object, leave the object in the exact position you masked it from, select and convert the "background" image to B&W (or completely desaturate) and leave the new object in full color. With saturation tool and transparency, you can get a "precentage" of color to show through for that "washed" look.

If you need specific instructions, post the version you are using.
 
The easiest way is to mask off the part of the image that you want to remain colored. If it is a simple solid color object, the magic wand will be the best tool. If it is complex, you may have to switch between the paintbrush mask and the magic wand.
When you select your mask tool of choice, be sure to select the "Additive" mode (the "+" sign on the tool bar). This will allow new masked areas to be combined with the already selected areas. if you mask too much of an area, change to the "-" (subtractive) mask mode, and paint out the part that shouldn't be masked.
Once you mask is exactly the outline of the object you want to remain colored go to Object > Create > Object: Copy Selection.

This will produce a new object of the area you just masked. IT may look like it disapeared, but it is still there. Be sure your Objects docker is visible (Window > Dockers > Objects). You will see a thumbnail of the object you just created, and the thumbnail of the entire picture. Select the entire picture (probably labeled background). The current object will have a red selection box around it. Be sure the object to remain colored is not selected, and sometimes, it can help to make it not visible (click the little "eye" icon in the object docker).

Since I am not using 12, I can't entirely remember, but if there is an "Image Adjustment Lab" under the Adjust menu, select that. Otherwise, someone else will have to chime in, or you will have to look on the interactive help for instructions on how to desaturate the color of the background image. It might be as simple as Adjust > Hue/Saturation/Lightness. If the later method, select the master channel, and slide the Saturation slider until the color fades out to the level you are looking for (probably all the way to the left). If you have the "Image Adjustment Lab", slide the Saturation slider to the left.

Make your colored object visible again, and it should be the only colored part of your picture. For added effect, you can play with that object. Sometimes desaturating that object will give a "softer" finished look. Changing the hue or tint can produce interesting results as well. Lighting effects and drop shaddows can be useful as well.

Post back if you still need further help.
 
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