Spot Color

Copyright @ 2010 The MaskMasters
Linda Jacobson

Every now and then you’ll have a photo that you would like to use the SPOT COLOR treatment on. This tutorial will help you learn a QUICK and EASY method that is NON-DESTRUCTIVE!

1. Open your photo.

2. Generally you’ll be converting “most” of the image to black and white, leaving a small bit of the image in color (like in my photo above…I want only the rose to be left in color…all the rest of the image I’d like to turn to black and white).

I’m going to start by selecting the QUICK SELECT tool (press the letter A if you use Elements or W if you use Photoshop and then verify that you have the Quick Select tool).

I will START by selecting the rose …  because I can capture it quickly with this tool … BUT … I’m going to have to be very careful when I get in the area near the right side of the rose where it starts to blend with her dress. As long as I have the Quick Select tool active I’m going to grab as much of the green stem and leaves as I can.

3.  Now, let’s get our Polygonal Tool and capture that last little bit of the rose over on the far right.

4.  NOW…this is important…we have just selected the part of the image that we DO NOT want to change . . .  remember?

We have a color image that we’d like to change to a spot color image where the rose and it’s greenery are keeping their color and THE REST of the image is being converted to Black & White.

The image below shows my selection after steps 1-3 . . . the marching ants are only around the rose and the stem and leaves.  Since I’ve selected the portion of our image that is keeping it’s color, then I need to inverse my selection, don’t I?

To inverse my selection, I simply press CTRL + SHIFT + I  (or right click and chose SELECT INVERSE from the pop-up menu. You must have a selection tool active for this quick tip to work . . . I had my Quick Select tool still active so the right click worked for me.)

Notice how our marching ants are now around the entire image as well as surrounding the rose and it’s stem and leaves? We have successfully selected everything except the rose and it’s stem and leaves.

5.  This is where the fun starts!  On your Layers Palette you’ll see a small icon that looks like a Ying/Yang symbol (a circle that is half white and half black) … it’s called ADJUSTMENT LAYERS and it helps us make “changeable” adjustments to our layers . . . GREAT POTENTIAL here!

6.  Click the Adjustment Layers icon.  Then chose the HUE/SATURATION option from the pop-up list.

7.  Move the SATURATION slider to the far left … you’ll be able to watch the color leave your image as you go.  COOL ay?!!!  Notice that you now have a new layer in your Layer’s palette . . . it is named “Hue/Saturation“.  THIS IS A HUGE FAVOR Adobe is doing for you! Because you have it as a Layer … you can now go back and make any changes you want … just double click on the little thumbnail on the far left side of that layer!

8. The “other” thumbnail you’ll see on the “Hue/Saturation” layer is actually a MASK! It’s defining the area that is effected by the adjustment.  WHITE reveals the adjustment … BLACK conceals the adjustment.  The next few steps are only important if you need to make some changes to your mask … read on …

9. Once the adjustment (conversion) has been made you may find some areas you missed … or maybe you included some areas that you shouldn’t have?  Let’s deal with them, shall we?  Taking a much closer look at the rose stem … notice how there is a red “fringe”? That’s actually her dress showing through … I need to change the MASK (!) for the Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer so it includes these areas in the B/W conversion!

10. With our ADJUSTMENT LAYER activated (just click once on the “Hue/Saturation” layer over there in your Layer’s Palette) we will grab our PAINTBRUSH (press B once).  Look at your Color Palette at the bottom of your tool bar…no matter what colors you had in there before, right now you will only have BLACK or WHITE … review step 9 above to understand why.

11. I am going to paint some WHITE paint along the edges of the rose stem … this will DESATURATE the red fringe pixels.

12. Once you are satisfied with your modified (SPOT COLOR) image, use FILE SAVE AS to create a jpg file of this image to be used in a project OR you can drag BOTH layers into a scrapbook layout so you have access to all the controls for the adjustment layer!

Thanks for giving this tutorial a try. If you’d like to learn more about non-destructive image editing check out the other tutorials (see the link to tutorials over there in the margin? Go ahead … explore it!  Have fun!

If you’d like to attend one of our classes follow the link to CLASSES.

If you’d like to have us come to your area and teach classes send us an email:  themastmasters@gmail.com

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