The assignment: “Color splash is a technique to emphasize details- you remove all color from a photo, and then restore original color to a single object, e.g. a green apple on a table. Think of the Girl in the red dress from Schindler’s List.”

So, I chose a picture of my friend, Emily, because her shirt was a very bright magenta color.  I also really liked the photo.  I always wondered how people did this, so I was eager to do this project.  I looked online for a way to do it using photoshop.  I was having a difficult time with the tools, so I improvised and used the eraser tool and took advantage of the concept of layers in photoshop.  

I decided that I might as well make a tutorial out of this, for those who are also not very photoshop savy.

First, I loaded my photo into photoshop (clicked and dragged it from the desktop to the photoshop icon).  I then selected the entire photo, then copied and pasted it right onto the same document.  This creates another layer.  

Next, make the top Layer (Layer 1) black and white.  Image>Adjustments>Black & White.

It should look something like this:

I then used the eraser tool and erased from the black and white area the part that I wanted to be in color, in this case, my friend’s shirt.  You want to make sure that you are on Layer 1 (it will be highlighted) when you are erasing, otherwise it will look like you are doing nothing or a message will pop up saying something about the layer not being selected.  In case you didn’t know, the Eraser tool is found about the Paint Bucket Tool and the History Brush Tool.  You will be able to tell immediately when it is working.  Zooming in and adjusting the size of the eraser makes it easier for smaller or more detailed areas.

Assignment worth: **