Selective Color Control Techniques in Photoshop

**This is the image before post.

I know the idea in photography is to get it right in the camera. However sometimes you might not have the kind of access to an area you’d like when trying to make the shot. Sometimes you are forced to take what you can get. In today’s post I will share a technique that I see done a lot, and it’s selective color images processing. In this technique you convert an image to grey scale, then bring back the color in just a specific area. I use this technique when an image is extremely busy with color, and I want to force with color where a viewers eye going to go (** see the before and after).

When using selective color to control your viewers attention, you still need to follow other photographic rules, like composition, and highlights compete for attention. I am always on the look out for highlights on the edge of an image, if I have them, most of the time I use a vignette to deal with them. Also if a scene is too busy, you can crop away a large portion of it, focusing on the object that got your attention when you took the image in the first place. I hope you spend a few minutes watching the video below as it illustrates what I am trying to tell you in the post.

**This is after I take control with color.

I hope you all have a wonderful day. Sincerely, Thomas Shue