Selective Coloring - Photography Contest [128 entries]

Winning entry, with a score of:

63.7%

Contest goal:

As photographers on this site we don't often get the chance to do selective coloring except in a 1 vs. 1 contest or our albums. Here is a chance to showcase your selective coloring skills. For those who don't know, selective coloring is the art of creating a black and white image and returning a portion of it to color. Often, it focuses on a single object within the composition to emphasize it and/or enhance drama.

PS Elements, PS and gimp (free) among other editing programs will allow you to achieve this look. Selective coloring will be the only (forbidden) technique allowed here, no HDR, pano or other multi-exposure, selective techniques allowed, all other photography guidelines must be followed....have fun!

Status: finished. Check out the winners below!

Suggested by: itsmymoment

smokebigbird: can we have a link so those that dont know how to do this can have some help. Thanks ( 5 years and 3429 days ago )

karaflazz: Yeah....i don't know how to do this so a link would be great!!!! ( 5 years and 3429 days ago )

Barracuda: If you have Photoshop, then put the photo on a layer and change the 'Blending Mode' from 'Normal' to either 'Darken Color' or 'Lighten Color' then simply turn the image to black and white (ctrl + alt + shift + B). Move the sliders about and you will be able to select a single color. Hope this helps ( 5 years and 3429 days ago )

Barracuda: Admin... you should enable SBS for this contest. It would be great to see the photo before and after. ( 5 years and 3429 days ago )

askingalexandria: For Photoshop users this is one way: http://www.createblog.com/photoshop-tutorials/70-separating-color-from-black-and-white/ ( 5 years and 3429 days ago )

momvera: O.k. so we can use PS techniques.

I looked through the entries, I think lot of people confused. Selective color mean that you make accent on ONE color only, not on two or three. ( 5 years and 3429 days ago )

jadedink: alright...so after looking through entries, i think people needed to be much clearer with the guidelines...is only one color acceptable??? because the way its described above, its a little vague. Perhaps Mods could clear this up?? I do agree with momvera, that only ONE color should be used for selective coloring (as it is what selective means) but..some entries below make me think WOW i wanna use more than one color! ( 5 years and 3429 days ago )

UncleJimmy: When I suggested the contest I had a single color in mind to select for each entry...but I would think that as long as the contest MOD allows it, as long as the photo is mainly B&W and only a part of it is selectively colored it should make for some very interesting entries... ( 5 years and 3429 days ago )

Contest Moderator: I think we can allow One object.......ie, a flower, a piece of clothing, that sort of thing! ( 5 years and 3429 days ago )

jawshoewhah: What I'm trying to figure out is why is it a photography contest this time. This is not a new contest but last time it was a photoshop contest. http://www.pxleyes.com/photoshop-contest/9705/selective-color.html I'm guessing the only difference is this time it has to be our own photo and not free stock. ( 5 years and 3429 days ago )

Contest Moderator: Yes, the shot has to be your own! ( 5 years and 3428 days ago )

friiskiwi: I feel the number of entries, indicates that many of us would like to use more PS in our photos. Not to the extent it is used in the photoshop talents, where an image is totally changed, but to enhance our photograps, like removing power ines etc. ( 5 years and 3427 days ago )

jbillitteri: I agree with friiskiwi totally. ( 5 years and 3427 days ago )

UncleJimmy: if we started using more PS like removing objects and such, I'm certain an SBS would be required to see the originals, then it might start turning into who is the best photo-enhancer contest instead of a straight up photography contest...that would be my concern....these are just special contests to give us a chance to show other skill sets ( 5 years and 3427 days ago )

iquraishi: this contest reminds me of the movies sincity, the spirit and some scenes of pleasantville.. ( 5 years and 3426 days ago )

Barracuda: I completely agree with friiskiwi, PS is a part of modern photography now. Only problem is policing how much people use it ( 5 years and 3426 days ago )

erikuri: I think even using PS people have to keep the original color of the chosen object, not trying to change it. ( 5 years and 3426 days ago )

lvstealth: so... can we mask? or just use selective coloring like the example Barracuda gives? ( 5 years and 3425 days ago )

lvstealth: so... is that a rule? what erikuri says? we have to keep the original color? ( 5 years and 3425 days ago )

Contest Moderator: yes, that would be right. the original color must be kept. this is simply a desaturation, and then returning a color to the image ( 5 years and 3425 days ago )

k5683: I'm thinking the mods need to go through this contest because people are Adding and Changing the colors on these entries. ( 5 years and 3423 days ago )

erikuri: @K5683: Oh, I suppose there's a lot of entries like that! That's why I said even using PS (or another photo editor) it's better keeping the original color of the selected part. It's more natural...

( 5 years and 3423 days ago )

jawshoewhah: A 120 entries??????????!!!!!!!!!! Gawd....... ( 5 years and 3423 days ago )

Contest Moderator: Tell me about it ! ( 5 years and 3423 days ago )

Contest Moderator: When making your entries, please keep in mind the guidelines of the site and the contest...Selective coloring will be the only (forbidden) technique allowed here, no HDR, pano or other multi-exposure, selective techniques allowed, all other photography guidelines must be followed....layer masking and other selective editing methods are NOT permitted ( 5 years and 3422 days ago )

k5683: The way I did my entry is duplicating the picture as a layer (two layers of the same picture) turn the top one to black and white and then using an eraser, erase the areas where you want to see the color underneath. THIS WAY, the original color is not changed AT ALL ( 5 years and 3422 days ago )

UncleJimmy: @ k5683....that would be the most acceptable and common way to do it...my entries were done in the same manner ( 5 years and 3422 days ago )

kumar: hi , 128.. entries..is it highest .. ( 5 years and 3420 days ago )

Howdie stranger!
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red dress - created by rblewandowski

Favs: 6

SBS: n/a

Hi-res

Rank: 1/128

Score: 63.7% (35)

23885 views

(5 years and 3426 days ago)

9 Comments

dress, red

trentonomous sicogliceneral - created by maclu2iaf

Favs: 5

SBS: n/a

Hi-res

Rank: 2/128

Score: 62.7% (30)

20326 views

(5 years and 3428 days ago)

11 Comments

sicogliceneral, trentonomous

Kiddo jeans - created by maclu2iaf

Favs: 5

SBS: n/a

Hi-res

Rank: 3/128

Score: 62.4% (25)

17833 views

(5 years and 3426 days ago)

6 Comments

jeans, Kiddo

Red hot... - created by captgeo

Favs: 1

SBS: n/a

Hi-res

Rank: 4/128

Score: 62.4% (20)

16197 views

with a tiny bit of yellow.. (5 years and 3423 days ago)

8 Comments

Red

The yellow one is calling - created by creser

Favs: 0

SBS: n/a

Hi-res

Rank: 5/128

Score: 62.3% (15)

17348 views

(5 years and 3424 days ago)

8 Comments

calling, one, yellow, The

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