Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/mod/tutorial/index.php?tutorial_id=1618

I posted an image using selective coloring, the sort of shot where most is bw and only selected areas are in color.  Comments have been good but one poster who was complimentary to the image said he would prefer the bw version, without the color.  I have spoken with him before and know he is not a fan of selective coloring and frankly, I generally am not either.

Why? Perhaps "selective color" is something I am simply not used to seeing. Maybe it sometimes reminds me of the  airbrushed color added portraits of years ago.  I really don't know why I generally have a hard time with selective colored images.  (Well, I don't care for clowns, either, go figure.)

One secret to making the process work appears to be finding the fine line of saturation for the colored part. Slightly desaturated is best.  For instance, a bright red against against a bw photo simply does not look appealing..to me.

Do you like selective color or not or have mixed feelings about it? Sure, much depends on the particular image at hand.

Thoughts appreciated.        TomDart.

Footote: The link is to the excellent and short tut on the process by  nattarious.   I did not use this technique for my recent image but the tut is excellent and it truly works well.

Tom, I've only done this a couple of times, and I know what you mean about not caring for this technique. Sometimes it's way over done and looks too fakey. But if done right, it sets a wonderful mood and gets a point across.  Here's the one I did for some friends who were expecting a baby girl...

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/index.php?image_id=1345229&member

I did another one with the baby in black & white, and just the eyes blue, but it seemed to me that it looked over saturated because her eyes were actually that  blue and seemed too much, but on the other hand if I toned it down, it wasn't really the color of her eyes...

I'm off to have a look at your photo now...   Akemi

Interesting subject Tom,

I agree, it depends on the image.. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't..
I like it if it's used tastefully and adds something to the image..
Genreally, something like a photo of a personas face, and the eyes are colored..that usually works (for me)

I've only posted one with selective color..

[ http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/index.php?image_id=1430179

](http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/index.php?image_id=1430179)I felt good about that one..

If you don't mind..in the case of your image..it almost seems like to liitle..The color is very muted and relatively small..

Yeah, it is a tricky process.. I've worked with that specific tutorial as a well..In some cases, I've needed to create several layers because of the subtle tone differences.

Generally, like with most postwork "effects" less is more..I try to take each image on it's own merits..So there are no hard set rules..

www.bclaytonphoto.com

bclaytonphoto on Facebook

Akemi, I saw your shot and seem to remember seeing it before.  The image is really nice and conveys love.  I would likely have desaturated the baby shoes a tiny, tiny bit but overall it get the feeling and love and expectation across...speaks as a fine shot does.

My first posted try was a total disaster..too many colors and one totally incorrect one of the three.  Comments told me that in a hurry. I revised and it was seen as fine.  Humm...easily overdone and not so easily done to be pleasing is selective coloring.

Your feelings about "selective color" appear to be close to mine.  Thanks for commenting.  Tom.

 

As for "one Daffodil", that one is really nice...but we differ on the saturation of it all. I would have brought it down a tiny bit also.   This TomDart comment if nothing else shows how critical the fine line in this technique actually is...and that it all depends on the individual viewer.  We will likely have very different thoughts on the same image.  Well, we do already!

I suspect I will do only a few "selective color" images...truly preferring eiher bw or full color in general.     As for my posted shot, I would not up the saturation since when I did play with that, it ruined the shot in my view.  As for your image, I have not seen it with less saturation and might very well post as you did after playing with it.  Who really knows.    

Your thoughts are as always, accepted with thanks.       Tom.

Very interesting Tom....whish I would read more oppinion. I can not live without colors this is my daily medicine soon as I open my eyes I WANT colors all of them. Still I am very fascinated about selective coloring photos. The colored picture is so buzy full of different colors and shades, yet a selective colored pictures somehow much relaxed to look at, so smooth and easy going, perhaps I even spend more time to looking at and discover things on a shot what I might would miss on a color version. If you enjoy playing with minimal colors please do and share it here, I am sure quet a few of us like to see more of this kind of art.

seeya  Tunde

If there is a purpose to the choice I think selective colour photographs can be very effective, though it is something which can easily be overused. It is sometimes used to rescue an otherwise poor photograph by creating a focal point and it is rarely sucessful when used like this imho. 
I very much like it used in portraiture to express a mood and add atmosphere particularly when it is used with cross processing techniques. I like the work of Annabel Williams where she cross processes the film, but prints for skin tone. Resulting in skin tones that look natural in a world unnatural detached colour. 
 

And every one said, 'If we only live,
We too will go to sea in a Sieve,---
To the hills of the Chankly Bore!'
Far and few, far and few, Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
Their heads are green, and their hands are blue, And they went to sea in a Sieve.

Edward Lear
http://www.nonsenselit.org/Lear/ns/jumblies.html

Attached Link: Selective Color

I may be one of the few to say I actually like this style/method. Although I agree with all the issues brought up (can be over-used, saturation can be too strong), I think when done right and with restraint the results I find wonderful.

I have used it several times. And much like you have said Tom, I generally tone down (desat) the color area. What I also do most times though; I  DO NOT fully desaturate the overall image. I leave a very slight color to it. I think this allows one to have a slightly more saturated colored area without it creating to stark of a difference between the color and BW.

The link above is to one of the several images I have used it on. Mostly I have used it for my cats photos. If you look closely, you can see, the overall image is not BW, but just VERY desat.

ive used it many times,but it has to be used on the right image i feel.....
im all for all sorts of techniques as i feel im not simply a photographer full stop....
if i feel my image looks good with selective colour then i use it...
enjoy your photography ;)...... james

Striving, the partial desat works for the bg and the cat.  I have done this with some images for a more subdued effect but not with  emphasis on a particular selected color.   The cat image is so subtly maneuvered I suspect some would not think "selective color" when viewing it..like "unheard" background music in a movie..if done well.

I think when done right it can be a powerful technique.  I cant think of a photo off-hand which fulfils that sentiment but if anyone has ever watched the film Schindler's List then you will know what i mean ;)

I have used it a few times and even did a mini series in a graveyard using it, but as mentioned it really has to fit the photo, otherwise it just looks bad and contrived rather than creating an atmosphere or emotion - and i'm not saying mine did either, i was just experimenting.  Personally i think the eye thing is overdone but it can still look good if done well.

"In every colour, there's the light.
In every stone sleeps a crystal.
Remember the Shaman, when he used to say:
Man is the dream of the Dolphin"

Rich Meadows Photography

Attached Link: 18th Street Station

So Tom, did you have me in mind when you wrote, "For instance, a bright red against against a bw photo simply does not look appealing..to me."? LOL, it is okay if you did. I fall into the camp that likes it, but it is very image dependent. It it is overdone, then usually looks out of place and unneccessary.

Kort Kramer - Kramer Kreations

I was thinking of posting this in my gallery but now am having secong thoughts. Any honest opinions?

Kort Kramer - Kramer Kreations

it looks pretty cool to me my friend

I love that one Kort, I say post it!!!!!!!!

Thanks you two! :)

Kort Kramer - Kramer Kreations

i may keep you company with one also ;)

I like it alot. Post it! Its a bit diff with the shot being done at dusk/dawn and the light on.

Kort, no, you were not in mind on my comment.  I was thinking of one I vagely remember from quite a while back...I don't even remember the subject matter... : )

its probably one of mine lol...................... :)

Selective coloring is acceptable  when it is subtle. View hand tinted portraits popular in the 40's and earlier to see some fine examples. With the advent of quality color papers this skill became much less prevalent. When revived through airbrush and digital image processing the technique at first suffured from limitations related to the mediums. Many artists with the advances in available tools have achieved results on par with the best of traditional hand tinting. So it comes down to taste and the quality of the artwork plus it's intended purpose. For instance an advertisement for lipstick would have a different focus than a portrait or pastoral scene. View art in it's proper perspective, decide what you like, then make something that suits your taste better than what you didn't like. Afterwards share it with the community and don't worry about opinions too much.

Acck! I'm starting to sound  like I'm stuck in "presentation" mode! I'm going to take a long lunch for sure.....maybe until tomorrow!

i never worry about oppinions....
praise is always nice tho .... :)

Not for me, but its all subjective anyway.

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/index.php?image_id=1469904

LOL ....I just posted one today...Personally I like selective coloring .

In the image I posted, I felt it created a bit of punch to the image and brought out the youth of my subjects. Plus, I was rather forced to go black and white with mine as one of the guys in the pic was severely sunburned and no matter what I did, he never looked quite right, lol.

I like yours, Kort. The important thing is, ( as always ), do you like it?

Marlene <")

Marlene S. Piskin Photography
My Blog

"A new study shows that licking the sweat off a frog can cure depression. The down side is, the minute you stop licking, the frog gets depressed again." - Jay Leno

i posted one yesterday , i think mine works .... anyhow i like it  ;)

"Now, the ivory tower purists will lend needed critical avice to those who experiment with selective color. First of all, the zone system is ingnored best I can judge from way up here. Secondly, these are likely the fad sort of images, namely digital. Film? Have you selective colorists tried that?  Tri-X for the cheaper bw folks and better film loaded just for you is out there. I cut and hold my unsharp masks, not that "cut and paste" and I work it well.  Perefectly, in fact. As for these examples of selective coloring, let me say something more about that..."

Sorry folks, I just could not bear to hear the rambling purists on that ivory tower say any more! Out, out spot! Out of my ears!  I am not a true fan of selective coloring but will use it once in a while..what herasy to commit.

Kort, the one shot as I remember was a bicycle or something like that...not a fire plug.

Margana, this one is actually neat and very humorous.  Send it to Calvin Klein...if he uses folks who look normal and with any natural body color (or clothes color).

awjay, the center bumper on the boat makes it work for me.  As I am not a true fan of selective coloring and my opinion doesn't matter, take it for what it is not worth.. The middle bumper makes it work.

Sighing out for the moment.       Neat thread, Never imagined.        Tom.

OK, brave as I am, here is a shot with selective coloring. This was posted in full color on some other thead not too long ago.  Graffitti(you spell it!) near the top of a building set for demolition..interesting, not a great shot by any means but interesting.   Does the color work?         Tom.

It works for me...and by the way...I think it was my bicycle shot you're remembering...  :^ P

Marlene <")

Marlene S. Piskin Photography
My Blog

"A new study shows that licking the sweat off a frog can cure depression. The down side is, the minute you stop licking, the frog gets depressed again." - Jay Leno

im not sure... as its a bit confusing as to wether the building was that colour in the first place...

if you see what i mean....

it works ok as an ordinary pic though....:)

awjay, the shot was doctored with selective coloring by retaining the blues of the gang marks.  The rest was desaturated but not to total grayscale.  The blue was slightly desaturated.

The intent was to render an image with out a "sore thumb" jumping us and saying, "I am a selective colored image".   I suppose much of this is how we view the process and what we want to see as result. Thanks for the comment.  I hope my explanation tells you where I was coming from in the graffitti shot.           Tom.

thats the fun of photography my friend..... you get the image how you like it..... i know thats what i do ..... have fun ....james.

I just posted a selectively colored gallery image...let's see how it goes over. ;']

Kort Kramer - Kramer Kreations

it works good .... :)

Overused, like a fisheye  lens, has its uses!

I like selective coloring - if its not way overdone. If you're trying to direct the viewers eye to something particular then its OK (like in Korts image of the little girl and hydrant). If its too color B&W cluttered then its kinda weird. Everyone has their likes and don't like (aka opinions). You cant please everybody at once.

Question the question. Answer the question. Question the answer...

I wish I knew what I was gonna say :oP