Photoshop help needed

[Quagmire]

Apologies for the nooby question but Im stuck :shrug:

I trying to convert an image (JPEG not RAW) to black and white while keeping certain parts in colour . Ive selected the parts in want to keep in colour on different layers but when I convert the original image to B&W the layers also convert to B&W :bang:

As you can see I'm a complete novice to PS

Thanks , Mark.

 

[hypnotic]

Hi Mark.

Convert a copy of the whole photo to B&W and place it on a layer above the colour one.

Then just erase the bits you want in colour from the B&W layer. Adjust the eraser size to get it more accurate.

Once finished just flatten image and save.

Post again if you need more help .... We all have to start somewhere

 

[CT]

It sounds like you've just converted the image to Greyscale B and W which only has 256 shades of grey and is an 8 bit image? Your colour layers will be 16 bit images which contain 16 million colours.

An 8 bit image cannot exist within a 16 bit one and vice versa, so when you flatten the layers the whole image will default to 8 bit greyscale.

Greyscale isnt the best way to convert to B and W for best quality, but if you increase the number of colours in your greyscale image to 16 million it will become a 16 bit image (or be treated as one) although you wont see any visible difference, and that should solve your problems.

 

[apodo]

With your image go to Layers > New Adjustment Layer > Channel Mixer...

On the channel mixer dialogue select the monochrome box in the bottom left, then play with the sliders to get the desired effect. These determine how much of each coloured light to use. I think I tend to use something like 23, 37, 40. If the percentages add up to more than 100 then the image will be lighter, lower and it will be darker.

This will create a layer, and you can then just select the layer mask and use the eraser tool to cut holes in it revealing the still full colour image underneath.

User a layer like this also means it is also non-destructive and you can get the edited colour image back if you want.

Michael.

 

[AdWright]

Yep, as I think mij is saying, you are using the 'Grayscale' mode from the 'Image --> Mode' menu, which converts the whole image, including all layers to grayscale. You need to adjust only some of the layers to b/w using a channel mixer layer.

 

[Quagmire]

You guys are stars - I think I'm gonna like it here