In this Photoshop tutorial, we will learn the Basics of Color Focus Editing or selective color, the post-processing technique where most of a photo is converted to black and white, but some parts are left in color to draw the viewer’s eye. Landscape photography is the most common application for this technique. Colorful leaves in an otherwise drab scene can breathe life into a photo. This technique can be applied to any genre, but portraits and landscapes are the usual beneficiaries. Buckle up people, lets get into this exciting tutorial! its gonna be a wild ride!
Final image
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Here are some examples of images that I created using the same technique, check out my Flickr Profile for more examples.
IMG_2965 by Tyler A. van der Hoeven
Peek’a’boo Pumpkin Patch by Tyler A. van der Hoeven
11 thoughts on “Learn The Basics of Color Focus Editing in Photoshop CS5”
This is a great tutorial! These photographs look so beautiful. Thank you.
Cool tut! Is this possible with CS3?
Absolutely! It may be a little different procedure but the elements remain the same. One black and white image layer on top of a color image with holes punched in the black and white layer via layer mask.
I finally had a chance to try out the tut, I totally enjoyed it, very neat trick with the mask tool… Here is my result. http://www.flickr.com/photos/loswl/5185746299/
Dude something i don’t understand… You use Adobe bridge 5 and… when i open picture i click on one but it pops me to Adobe cs3. How can i open the color”bar”
I’m french and I discovered your work for a month, I love IT! It’s amazing and so beautiful^^ Thanks to you cause now I’m able to do this on photoshop!
Great! Thanks for the kind words.
This a cool tut Tyler, really showed me some new techniques that I could use in my designs, I love how you separated the color from the black and white…NICE! 🙂
WOW! excellent post! I always like to read your blog, thanks for this!! 🙂
Love your video tuts! makes it easier to follow along. Really like this, lots of useful tips!
Thank you very much, I really appreciate the support.