Black and White pictures with spot color?

[californiamom]

Does anyone know if any of these online (digital) photo developers do the black and white with spot color pictures? I am working on our Holiday cards and the one I liked is a flat card, but I would like to add a B&W picture of DD with spot color. This is what I am talking about:

http://invitingsmiles.com/Custom-Photo-card-home-page-holiday.htm

Anyone?

TIA!
Ana

[californiamom]

No one?

[papal]

Hi Ana,
You can do it yourself using photoshop and just upload the new image to Shutterfly or wherever and get cards printed through them. Does that make sense? It is pretty easy to do in Photoshop.. let me know if you want more details.

[Thatchermom]

Rashmi is right - these are not hard to do with Photoshop. I take photos all the time, turn them b&w, then add spot color. You can then have the file printed anywhere you like. Costco does mine and they look great. We are using this one as Christmas gifts for the grandparents, both as plain enlargements and with a black border and text.

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/15049.jpg

[Thatchermom]

Rashmi is right - these are not hard to do with Photoshop. I take photos all the time, turn them b&w, then add spot color. You can then have the file printed anywhere you like. Costco does mine and they look great. We are using this one as Christmas gifts for the grandparents, both as plain enlargements and with a black border and text.

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/15049.jpg

[chlobo]

I'm pretty new to photoshop. Any tips on how to do this?

I have this great picture of me, my husband and my daughter. I'd like my daughter to be in "color" while the rest of us are black and white. Any tips?

[LD92599]

"rough" idea for you...
http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/15059.jpg

here's one of my DS i'd done a few months ago:
http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/15058.jpg

Laura
mom to William
3.5.2003

http://homepage.mac.com/ld14m

http://lilypie.com/baby2/030305/0/7/0/-5/.png[/url]

[ciaobella]

I just downloaded a trial of Photoshop Elements and would love it if someone could tell me how to do the spot color thing!

Thanks!

Anne

[californiamom]

Rashmi,
I would LOVE to learn more about how to do this using Photoshop! Can you help me?
Thanks!!
Ana

[californiamom]

Gorgeous! I want to learn!!!

[californiamom]

Wow! You guys really do master Photoshop,huh?

Ana

[ellies mom]

It isn't hard but I'm not sure how I would explain it without being there. You select what you want to colour with whatever selction tool works the best for you (I'm twitchy, I have to use the magnetic lasso) then pick the colour you want the selection to be. I'm not sure how to make one part full coulour and the rest black and white, like that one PP of the family. It takes practice and experimenting really. Good luck.

[ciaobella]

Ok, so I tried the magnetic lasso, but it does not give me a perfect line like in the pictures posted above ... how did you do that!?!

I am getting addicted already! I have been searching the archives for all sorts of photoshop help.

One other question ... when making a collage, if I am going to do squares - what size should they be?

TIA!

Anne

[ellies mom]

Anne-
Try playing with the different values such as contrast and feather. I'm still trying to figure it all out. It seems to take a lot of experimenting and practice.

[chlobo]

Ok. That looks great. So how did you do it?

[LD92599]

We;re going out shortly for the day..but i'll check back later and post directions...as best as possible! It's pretty simple and involves inverting the selection (hint hint!).

Quickly..

Select the item you want to remain in color
then invert selection (not sure under which menu that is)
and then choose to remove color.
This removed the color from everything EXCEPT your original selection.

Laura
mom to William
3.5.2003

http://homepage.mac.com/ld14m

http://lilypie.com/baby2/030305/0/7/0/-5/.png[/url]

[ellies mom]

Sweet. That was exactly the help I needed. I was playing around with this photo a few weeks ago and I just couldn't get this to happen. Thanks. I know it's kind of funky but well, like it said earlier, practice and experiment.

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/15081.jpg

[LD92599]

Great job! That is soooo cute!!

Funny..w/ Photoshop Elements (FYI version 3.0 is out now or due out in the next week or so) once i learn something i tend to do it over and over til i learn the next thing!

Laura
mom to William
3.5.2003

http://homepage.mac.com/ld14m

http://lilypie.com/baby2/030305/0/7/0/-5/.png[/url]

[chlobo]

Here is an alternative method:

1. Save a copy of the original image.
2. Decolorize that version by clicking Image, Mode, Grayscale. It will remove the color from the entire image.
3. Select the entire image (Control-A)
4. Copy (Control-C)
5. Open the original image and past the black & white version in a new layer (Control-V)
6. Select the Black & white layer (which should be on top), and using the eraser tool, carefully erase the Black & White Isabella (the color layer will show through as you erase)
You can select different size "brushes" for erasing.

[californiamom]

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/15106.jpg

This is so exciting!
THANK YOU SO MUCH. :-)

Ana

[ciaobella]

These pictures are wonderful - I can't wait to play tomorrow!

Thanks for the instructions!

[Mommaof2]

Grayscale converts to 18 shades of gray. Instead go to: 1) image, 2) adjustments, 3) desaturate - it keeps it at 64 shades of gray. Especially makes a big difference if you are going to print it out. Also, if you're converting a color to B&W pic you usually need to crank up the contrast so it's not so flat gray.

Hope this helps

[californiamom]

Oh, thanks!! I will try that...

Ana

[californiamom]

Another try, this time using desaturate instead of grayscale...

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/15136.jpg

Ana

[ciaobella]

I love this! Ana, your looks great!

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/15185.jpg

[papal]

Looks like you guys are doing great! Those pics are awesome! Laura gave great instructions!
A photo tip.. if you get down to eye level of the baby, you will get a whole different perspective and imo really great pics. Also, cropping pics in photoshop to get rid of background stuff also enhances the pic greatly...this is just my opinion of course! :)

[californiamom]

Oh, this is beautiful! The red hat contrasts beautifully to the B&W picture.

Ana

[californiamom]

Thanks, Rashmi! :-) I am having fun doing this.

I want to order our Holiday cards soon because we will be going out of the country in December and there's a ton of paperwork/documents we need to get DD before we leave...

I agree with the eye level tip; sometimes the only way to make her look at the camera is to stand up in front of her, though... Otherwise she will crawl away! :-) LOL

Ana

[ciaobella]

Thanks, Ana :) I am just excited I got it to work! Can you tell I am working on Christmas pictures right now?

Also, thank you Rashimi. I have been scouring the boards for photoshop help and your old posts have been so wonderful. I have learned a lot!

Anne

[Dcclerk]

That was so much fun. I had much better luck with the copy and erase technique. And, of course, I had to show off my little gorilla... ;)



ETA-- To take out the pictures

[mudder17]

After seeing all the cool pics, I was inspired to give it a try. Here's my first attempt. (As you can see I'm having difficulty with the selection tool. Is there an easier way to select an object?):

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/15538.jpg


Eileen

Mother of Beautiful Kaya, www.chemicalgraphics.com/kaya
http://www.babysfirstsite.org/newtickers/ticker/16994.birthday.png

http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_garnet_6m.gif Breastfed 8 months and counting

[ErinMC]

Does anyone know where/if I can get a free or discounted trial of Photoshop Elements? I'd love to try this with the spot color - all of your photos looks so incredible! - but I can't afford the $100 right now. I didn't see anything on the Adobe Photoshop website except for the full version.

TIA!

[KrisM]

That's so cool. She looks so cute. I tried, too, but also had problems with the selection tool.

[LD92599]

Windows Demo Version:

http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/product.jsp?product=40&platform=Windows

Mac Demo Version:

http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/product.jsp?product=40&platform=Macintosh

Also, FWIW..since Version 3 is now out (or due out in a few days!) you can probably get version 2.0 pretty cheap. I am pretty sure i saw Version 2 in both BJs (for sure) and Costco for $49!

Laura
mom to William
3.5.2003

http://homepage.mac.com/ld14m

http://lilypie.com/baby2/030305/0/7/0/-5/.png[/url]

[ErinMC]

Thanks Laura! That's exactly what I was looking for. And I'll keep an eye out for it at my next Costco trip. Can't wait to try it out!

[CBB]

Love everyone's pictures!! Thank you so much for sharing the tips!! Here are my attempts. Love, love, love this cool effect. DH was so impressed at what I did.

[mudder17]

Wow! I love your pics! How did you select the items so cleanly? As you can see from my attempt, I had difficulty selecting my objects cleanly. Should I be using a different tool?


Eileen

Mother of Beautiful Kaya, www.chemicalgraphics.com/kaya
http://www.babysfirstsite.org/newtickers/ticker/16994.birthday.png

http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_garnet_6m.gif Breastfed 8 months and counting

[CBB]

Eileen, I just used Carren's method. I pasted the black and white on the original and used the eraser tool. For the edges, I just zoomed in and used a smaller size eraser. I think using the eraser is easier than selecting with the magic lasso, IMO. I'm not sure how to make the back ground black like the one you did though. I'm wondering if you can paste the picture twice. The second time paste it on a complete black background, then use the eraser tool to erase the background. Not sure if that would work. Good luck!

[ellies mom]

I've been coloring pumpkins too. DH thought it looked a bit freaky so I had to tone down the orange. I'm sure I did it the hard way, but I selected the pumpkin, removed the color from the rest of the picture. Made a duplicate layer, then I removed the rest of the color from the background (first layer). Then I adjusted the opacity on the layer that still had the orange pumpkin.



http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/15572.jpg

Ever since this post and the one on turning photos in the sketches came out I've been going nuts with these picture.

[Dcclerk]

Love your pumpkin picture. And I have to say that now that I have seen yours with the muted coloring, I have to agree with your DH-- the bright orange is a bit disconcerting. Back to the drawing board; thanks for the suggestion!

[californiamom]

OMG! I love your pictures! *Especially* attachment #1. Beautiful! :-)

[searchdog]

Ok I am hooked on this. By the way this is Maggie, this is the first picture of her that I have ever put on the boards. I can't believe I actually got it to work. I had to edit it because originally it was too big. The other picture is for my avatar that I am trying to do.

[LD92599]

Meg is adorable and great photoshop work!

Laura
mom to William
3.5.2003

http://homepage.mac.com/ld14m

http://lilypie.com/baby2/030305/0/7/0/-5/.png[/url]