The Canon Magazine 59
SELECTIVE COLOURING
When working on
Layer Masks hit
the D key to set a
white foreground
colour or D followed
by X to set it to
black quicklyQUICK TIP!
01 DESATURATE YOUR IMAGE
Open your image into Photoshop Elements and head
over to the Layers panel (Window>Layers). Now click
on the Create new adjustment layer icon and choose
Hue/Saturation. In the panel that appears set the
Saturation slider to -100 to drain all of the colour.
03 WORK ONTO THE LAYER MASK
Click on the Layer Mask of your Hue/Saturation Layer
to make it active, then hit D followed by X to make
your brush black. Zoom in by pressing Ctrl+Plus a few
times and then paint over your subject to bring back
the vibrant colour.
05 PAINT BACK WITH WHITE TO HIDE
If you accidentally paint over an area that you didn’t
want to colour pop just hit X on the keyboard for a
white foreground colour and brush over that area to
desaturate it again. When done hit X once more for
a white foreground colour to continue working.
02 SET UP YOUR BRUSH TOOL
We’ll be using the Brush Tool to paint colour back into
the image, so click it in the Toolbox to make it active.
In the Tool Options set the Opacity to 70%, then click
on Brush Settings and set the Hardness to 80%. Now
resize your brush with the [ and ] keys.04 USE THE RUBYLITH OVERLAY
Press the \ key to activate the rubylith overlay which
shows up any areas you’ve painted on your layer mask
as a bright red colour, making it easier to see if you’ve
missed, or overpainted, any areas. Toggle it on or off
by pressing the \ key repeatedly.06 BOOST CONTRAST
To give your shot one final dramatic boost we’re going
to increase the contrast. Head back over to the Levels
panel and click on the Create new adjustment layer
icon, then choose Levels from the list. In the Levels
panel drag inwards the Blacks and Whites sliders.STEP BY STEP HOW TO MAKE COLOURS POP
Selectively remove colour from your pictures in Photoshop Elements
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