change part of a photo to black and white

Follow this tutorial to find out how to turn just part of a photo to black and white to achieve a great effect. This works really well with an image where part of the photo is really brightly coloured but can also be used with subtle colours to create an interesting effect.

I have used a photo of a Peacock that I found on Wikimedia by Wilfredor as the basis of this tutorial.

Step 1.
Start by opening the photo that you want to change in Photoshop.

Original Image

Step 2.
Duplicate the photo in the layers palette.

Duplicate the layer

Step 3.
With the top layer selected desaturate the image. To do this go to Image > Adjustments > Desaturate. Or use the keys Shift Apple U / Shift Ctrl U.

Desaturate the top layer

Step 4.
Add a layer mask to the desaturated image. With the top layer selected go to Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal All or use the layer mask icon at the bottom of the layers palette.

Add a layer mask

Step 5.
With the new layer mask selected in the layers palette, select the brush tool and black in the colours palette.

Select Brush

Step 6.
Right click the canvas to show the brush menu and choose a appropriate brush size. If you want a crisp edge between the section that will be coloured and the section that will be black and white choose 100% hardness.

Select brush size

Step 7.
Start to use the brush on the areas that you want to be in colour. Change the size of the brush as you need to. In the layers palette you will notice the layer mask showing the areas that you are uncovering. (Black is the part of the photo that is hidden and white the area which is showing).

Step 8.
If you make a mistake, change the colour in the colour palette to white by pressing the arrow just above the swatches. Go back over the area to reveal the section of picture again.

Showing too much background

Change Colour

Go back over same area

Step 9.
Change the colour back to black and continue to work on the layer mask until you have hidden all the areas of black and white that you want.

Continue Process

Step 10.
Below is my finished photo.

Finished Image

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial.
Please leave a comment or some feedback if you try out this process, it would be also be great to see some finished photos

You can create your own brush styles to give you the same effect but I often find that when you create your own brushes they aren’t always to the exact proportions needed for easy translation into CSS.

To overcome this, I have created a full brush set; a .abr file with brushes which match their CSS counterparts exactly. Use these brushes in your designs for eventual smooth translation into CSS and know that your dotted and dashed designs are CSS friendly!

Free Brush Set for Photoshop to create dotted and dashed lines:

Download Now

In the .abr file you will find:

10 dotted brushes ranging from 1px to 10px widths
(the grey lines below are from a print screen of dotted lines created in CSS, the blue lines use the Photoshop Brush Set)

dotted line brushes

10 dashed horizontal brushes ranging from 1px to 10px widths

dashed line brushes (horizontal)

10 dashed vertical brushes ranging from 1px to 10px widths

dashed line brushes (vertical)

Please note:
To use the brushes for dotted or dashed straight lines as above you need to click on the canvas where you want the start point to be and hold shift as you drag the cursor to the end point of the line.

Download the brush set now

How to merge layers in Photoshop

example layers

original-layers

Above is my sample file that I have created which you will see contains 7 layers including the background. For this purpose, I want to merge the top 5 layers so that I will be able to move everything as one except for the brown paper and the background.

Step 1.
To do this you will first need to open your layers palette if it isn’t already open (Window > Layers)

Step 2.
Select the bottom layer that you want to merge and holding down the shift key select the top layer you wish to merge. This will highlight them. If the layers you want to merge aren’t next to each other select them one at a time whilst pressing the Apple / Ctrl button.

select-layers-to-merge

Step 3.
There are several ways to merge the selected layers;
A) Right click the selected layers in the Layers palette and chose ‘Merge Layers’ from the menu.
B) Click on the menu arrow on the top right of the layers palette and chose ‘Merge Layers’ from the menu.
C) Use the top menu and go to Layer > Merge Layer
D) Apple E / Ctrl E

merge (A)

All your layers will now be merged into one layer and will be named and positioned in the place of your original top layer.

How to group layers in Photoshop

Step 1.Create a New Group by pressing on the folder icon at the bottom of the layers palette. The new folder will appear above whichever layer you currently have selected.

create-group

Step 2.
Select all the layers that you want to have as a group (see Step 2 of merging layers for how to select multiple layers). Once they are all selected, click on any of the highlighted layers and drag them onto the new group folder you have just created in the layers palette. The layers will appear indented beneath the folder icon.

Step 3.
By toggling the triangle to the left of the group folder you can open and close the folder to show and hide the layers. You can now move all of these layers about as one and transform the items together by selecting the group folder in the layers palette. By grouping them rather than merging them you can still access the individual layers separately and un-group them if you wish.

I had a couple of comments on a previous post asking how to change the finished black and white line drawing into a coloured line drawing. I will start the tutorial from where I left the previous post. If you are starting this tutorial afresh start at Step 2.

I am starting with a new image ‘Locomotive ChS4-072 2011 G1.jpg‘ by ‘George Chernilevsky‘ and have followed the steps in ‘How to change a photo into a pencil line drawing‘ to turn it into a black and white line drawing.

original image

Black and White Line Drawing

Step 1.
If you have just finished the previous tutorial, you should have your main picture as a line drawing and you will have 3 layers in the layers palette. Merge these layers – to do this select the 3 layers in the layers palette (Hold Apple / ctrl to select multiple layers) and select Apple E / ctrl E.

merge layers

Step 2.
You should have your line drawing now on a single layer in the layers palette. Create a new layer (select the icon at the bottom of the layers palette to the left of the bin).

create a new layer

Step 3.
Move the new layer beneath the line drawing. Click and drag the layers in the layers palette to do this. (If the drawing layer is a background layer which is locked – double click this layer in the layers palette and choose ‘ok’ to unlock it).

move the new layer to the bottom

Step 4.
Choose the paint bucket from the toolbar and choose the colour that you would like the line drawing to be in the colour palette.

select paint bucket and colour

Step 5.
Select the new layer you’ve created in the layers palette and fill the canvas with colour. (This layer is hidden behind the line drawing on top, so you will only see the change in the layers palette).

colour the bottom layer

Step 6.
Select the line drawing layer and choose ‘screen’ from the drop down menu. Your line drawing will now taken on the colour of the layer beneath.

select screen on the top layer

coloured pencil effect

Step 7.
You can continue to change the colour of the line drawing and add more colours to the bottom layer.

adjust the background to change the colours

2 colours

Step 8.
Try using a multi gradient on the bottom layer to create a rainbow effect

rainbow effect

Square Brushes which come with Photoshop CS5

To load the square brushes into your brush palette:

Step 1
With a document open and the brush tool selected, right click the canvas.

Step 2.
Click on the arrow which is top right on the brush selector.

Select the arrow button top right

Step 3.
Choose Square brushes from the list.

Select Square Brushes from the drop down list

You should now be able to access all the Photoshop square brushes

Step 1.
Open your image in Photoshop.

Original image

Step 2.
Duplicate the layer

Duplicate the layer

Step 3.
Turn off the original picture layer by pressing the eye icon for that layer in the layers palette.

Turn off original layer

Step 4.
Select the duplicate layer and click the icon at the bottom of the layers palette to add a layer mask.

Add a layer mask

Step 5.
With the layer mask selected, choose the brush tool. If you have not used a layer mask before you will notice that the colour palette has changed to white and black. Black will hide the image and white will bring it back /reveal the image.

Select the layer mask in the layers palette

Step 6.
Use the paintbrush with black selected to hide all parts of the image except for the parts where you want to change the colour.

Brush tool

Colour palette – select the arrows to swap the colours round

Start to hide areas of the image except for the areas you want to change colour

Now just showing areas that will change colour

Step 7.
Once you are left with just the part you want to change colour. Turn the other layer back on.

turn original layer back on

Step 8.
Select the layer with the layer mask and choose Image > Adjustments > Hue & Saturation (You must select the layer on the left of the layers palette and not the layer mask this time). Play around with the colours until you are happy with the look of the image.

Choose Image > Adjustments > Hue & Saturation

Step 9.
If you find a bit you’ve missed you can click on the layers mask in the layers palette and continue to use the airbrush and black to hide more of the top image. Likewise if you what to reveal more of the top image you can do this by using the brush and the white colour to bring the image back.

area not hidden properly

After using the layer mask & brush tool again

Step 9.
Here is my final image, alongside the original.

Original & Image with colour change

Step 1.
Open up the image that you want to use – make sure the image is on it’s own layer (not the background layer) and make the canvas twice as big.

Original Image – Rain Texture

Make the Canvas twice as big

Step 2.
Use the Marquee tool to section off the bottom half of the image.

Use the marquee tool to section off bottom half

Step 3.
With the marquee selection still active. Copy, cut and paste, either using the edit menu or using the keyboard short cuts. (Keyboard shortcuts are; Copy – Cmd C, Cut – Cmd X, Paste – Cmd V (Use Ctrl instead of command if you are on a PC).)
You will now have half the image on one layer and half on another.

paste half the image onto a new layer

Step 4.
Your top layer, which was originally the bottom of the image should be placed at the top of the canvas and the top of the image placed at the bottom. Line them up so the 2 edges meet.

Swap the images round

Step 5.
Take the top image and keeping the edges of the image inline, allow it to overlap the bottom image slightly to a point where the pattern is close if possible. You can see the overlap below where the blue arrow is.

Line up and overlap the images

Step 6.
Zoom into the pattern and the point where the images overlap.
Slowly work your way along the line using a combination of the eraser and the clone tool to adjust the overlap until you can’t see a visible line. Work right the way to the left and the right of the line but don’t change the edges of the tile as these will line up perfectly if you leave them as they are. The quality of the end result will largely depend on how well you can blend the overlap here, so take your time to complete this step.

Blend the overlap

Step 7.
Once you are happy with the overlap and you can no longer see a visible line, select both layers in the layers palette and merge them together. A quick way to do this is to press shift to select more than one layer in the layers palette and use the keyboard shortcut Cmd E or Ctrl E to merge the layers.

Select both layers

Merged Layers

Step 8.
Select the marquee tool and draw over the left of the pattern. Copy Cut and paste the left of the image and place this on the right and the original right side onto the left.

Select the left side of the image

Step 9.
Like before line up the patterns until you are happy with the overlap. (What you see here will also be the final size of your tile).

Step 10.
Zoom into the vertical overlap line and repeat the earlier steps to create a seamless pattern, take care not to change the area at the top and bottom of the image at the edges of the tile.

Step 11.
Once you are happy with the look of the tile, merge the left and the right side of the pattern and you have the final tile.

Step 12.
To check that it works as a seamless tile, duplicate the layer and line up the tile. You should have your final seamless pattern.

Tile Duplicated

Steps to Save the tile in Photoshop to use as a background pattern:

Step 1.
To use this in Photoshop as a background pattern copy and paste the single tile into a new document. To do this draw with the marquee around it and copy and then select a new document and paste. This will create a document at the exact size of your tile.

Step 2.
Choose edit and define pattern.

Step 3.
Give your pattern a name and click ok.

Step 4.
Your new pattern will now be available for you to use from the pain bucket pattern menu and from the pattern overlay menu.

cork repeating background

Use the above cork image for a seemless background pattern. Right Click the image to Save it to your computer.

Original cork image by Purpledragon42-stock

Please note: All of the methods below start with an open document and a new layer will always be created directly on top of the layer you have selected in the layers palette.

1) Add a new layer using the top menu

Choose: Layer > New > Layer and choose OK from the New Layer box. (hitting return will also select OK if you don’t want to change anything in the New Layer box).

Create a new layer using the top menu

New Layer Box

2) Add a new layer using a keyboard shortcut

Command + Shift + N / Ctrl + Shift N and choose OK from the New Layer box (hitting return will also select OK if you don’t want to change anything in the New Layer box)

3) Add a new layer using the layer palette menu

Select the drop down menu on the top right of the layer palette and choose New Layer then choose OK from the New Layer box (hitting return will also select OK if you don’t want to change anything in the New Layer box).

New Layer using layer palette menu

4) Add a new layer using the layer palette icons

Select the ‘Create a New Layer’ icon on the bottom of the layers palette. This will create a new layer straight away without providing you with layer options, so this is the same as using the methods above and clicking OK in the New Layer box without changing anything.

Create a new layer icon

Step 1.
Create a new document. I choose to create mine at 800×800. This will not be an effect that you will be able to scale up so make sure your original canvas is an appropriate size for the size of the image you want to add the smoke / steam to.

Create a new document

Step 2.
Create a new layer and use the paint bucket to fill this layer with black.

Create a new layer and fill with black

Step 3.
Create another new layer and select the paintbrush and white from the colour picker. You will need to set the paintbrush to various different sizes but keep the hardness to a low level. Start with a mid size brush.

New layer

Select Paintbrush

Step 4.
On the new layer, draw wavy lines upwards, using varied brush sizes.

Wavy lines

Step 5.
With the wavy lines layer selected in the layers palette, choose Filter > Other Maximum. Keep the radius low.

Choose filter > Other > Maximum

Maximum options box

Step 6.
Repeat step 5 until your lines are quite distorted.

Distorted Wavy Lines

Step 7.
Chose Filter > Distort > Twirl to distort the lines further.

Choose Filter > Distort > Twirl

Twirl

Step 8.
Choose Edit > Transform > Warp

Edit > Transform > Warp

Warp

Step 9.
Drag the different points on the transform closer together at the bottom, to give the effect of the smoke rising from a central point.

Distort the lines further using warp tool

After warp effect

Step 10.
Change the opacity on the top level to fade the lines into the background.

Change opacity

Step 11.
This layer can then be duplicated and moved around to create the desired effect.

With Multiple Lines

Step 12.
I have used different parts of the layer over the top of the coffee image and added more blur to create the effect I wanted. See the image below for the final result.

Coffee With Steam