Enhancing black & white pictures creatively with color effects - Photoshop

Interesting black & white photos can be generated from many color photos and that too without much effort. However, they still lack the oomph you desire to see in them.

Coloring black and white photos can be best done in Photoshop using separate color filter layers. These are normally created on the whole photo and have the same effect all over—we know this from sepia shades. But that should not happen. If the filter layer takes the luminance of the picture into account, it stands out better in dark areas. It offers creative leeway. And just like all layers, you can also restrict them to certain areas by using masks.

Inserting Filter Layers: Open the picture and then bring up the Layers palette with [F7]. Click the icon for ‘New Adjustment Layer’ and select ‘Photo filter’. Photoshop offers a warm filter by default. Set its ‘Thickness’ to ‘100’—this is how you will get a bright shade. Then double-click ‘Photo filter 1’ in the Layers palette; it is best if you name the layer based on the color used. This way you know what is what at a glance.

Applying More Colors: Now click the automatically created layer mask and press [Ctrl] + [I], whereupon Photoshop masks the photo filter layer in black. You can now apply more color layers just like in the last step. The program offers many templates, which correspond to the lens filters used in traditional photography. In addition you can also create your own filters by clicking the color field and defining a color in the following ‘Color Picker’ dialog box.

Modelling Layer Masks: You now selectively bring the colors into play: click the layer mask of a photo filter layer, take a white brush with little ‘Hardness’ or ‘Contrast’ and paint the selected area. Gradually go to other photo filter layers and deal with them the same way. What’s important: Overlapping colors have a tendency to blend. You can tone down the color application using the opacity regulator.

Intensifying Colors: Bright areas have not been dyed so far. If you want to tone them, remove the check mark in front of ‘Luminosity’ in the photo filter layers. In addition, you can pep up the picture by placing a layer set in such a manner as the uppermost layer and by setting your layer mode to ‘Color Burn’ thereby making the colors much more noticeable.