Photoshop question

[Sign Man]

I've been doing some digital printing... I'm wondering.. I've seen pictures that are greyscale except for like one color... how do you do that in photoshop?

for example, there is a picture of a person and a stop sign, everything is grey but the stop sign... how do you do that?

 

[iSign]

select the stop sign, copy it, open new window, paste it. Go back to photo, go to image menu, to "mode".. change to greyscale. (everything will turn to greyscale) Now change back to RGB (everything will stay greyscale)... now I think the original red stopsign will still be in the clipboard & can now be pasted back, but if not, go to your other window with the pasted red stop sign, copy again, & paste into your photo.

 

[Pro Signs & Graphix]

- Select the stop sign.
- Make a new layer via cut or copy
- Go back to original layer and "desaturate" (removes all color) from that particular layer.
- Flatten image

You should now have achieved your desired look.

 

[Bobby H]

Beware of doing straight convert to grayscale maneuvers. Sometimes you can lose some valuable contrast using such actions. You can also end up with a grayscale image whose black levels won't be very good when printed either. In general, you're going to get better results printing an image that looks like it is grayscale but has full RGB, CMYK or L*a*b data.

The desaturate command works okay, but is pretty crude overall. Experimenting with the calculations dialog (under the Image menu) can provide more control in creating gray scale images with better contrast. Layering copies of the image, using layer blending modes (and some masking techniques) can help further.

Another tip: if you're scanning in black and white photographs to be digitally printed, scan them in RGB. Your blacks will print better.

 

[Shovelhead]

to obtain more "richness" to greyscale.......

select image....in layers menu...."duplicate" image....select
"multiply" and give it a 35-40 % opacity....I do the same to
color photos also.

 

[mbarden]

Hey Sign Man,
If you are who I think you are we have a certain fellow from Springflied, MO in common. I understand he is not doing to well. Keep him in mind in your prayers.
On another note, you''ll find this board and the people associated with it to be first class and a real help to you and your business.
Take Care.
Mike B
Big River Sign Co.

 

[quikseps]

The absolute best grayscale image can only be attained by converting your RGB image to LAB Mode then duplicate the Lightness Channel and use this channel as your gray.

At this point you can then revert back to RGB and simply isolate the stop sign.

The Lightness Channel is "pure" grayscale with excellent tonal range and is used many times within QuikSeps which is a color separation program written by yours truly.

Steve

 

[Mason]

Theyre called Duotones they are achieved using "Spot channels" go to the help menu and it will give you detailed instructions on how to create them.

 

[Techman]

find a book about using channels. IT will really change your useage of photoshop.

May i recommend
http://www.amazon.com/Photoshop-Channels-Book-Scott-Kelby/dp/0321269063

 

[Bob Gilliland]

My experience for great Grayscale imaging is inline with Bobby H and quickseps, using L*a*b and/or Calculations.

Techamn,

Scott Kelby’s book is good, however, IMHO, the “best” channels book to date is Photoshop Channel Chops by Biedny, Monroy, and Moody (ISBN-1562057237). Still applicable even today with CS3 released! It took many months and a few bucks, but I finally sourced one a few years ago and have it signed by Bert himself. The Photoshop Channels Bookis a good investment and much easier to obtain then the PS Channel Chops tome. Now, real life seminars, I’d take Kelby over Monroy for “style of instruction” any day of the week; Kelby is just such an infectious, fully energized, over the top kind of instructor.

 

[javila]

Those are some really really complicated ways to do that.

Make a selection of what you want in black/white. Then create a hue/saturation layer and bring the saturation slider all the way to the left.

Instant black/white with the ability to go back to normal.

 

[Techman]

The Photoshop Channels Bookis a good investment and much easier to obtain

YEs, it is, Plus
The biggest factor I think this book is a good one :: It doesn't have gaps in the step by step atricles. The results are repeateble every time.

Too many other tutorials have some strange gap what assumes the user knows what happens next which leaves the user stranded.

 

[Ian Stewart-Koster]

The simplest way I find of doing what you ask, is to select the stop sign (in colour), with no feathering to the selection.
Then type ctrl-shift-I (invert selection) then type ctrl-shift-u (desaturate) and that's it, done.
Not the best image, but the simplest method.

The duplicating a layer, selecting multiple blending & reduced opacity gives a nice pic, as does the lightness channel of the lab colour- thanks for the ideas!!!

 

[rockz12]

The correct procedure....

If you want to make those cute little pictures that are grayscale with the kid holding a bright red rose do the following..

1. Make Document Grayscale
2. Adjust Brightness contrast to make pleasing.
3. Make document RGB
4. Select your favorite color
5. Select Brush tool / Appropriate hardness and opactiy / Start @ 50% for each you dont need much with certain colors
5. Make transparency Color Overlay for that layer
6. Use your creative skills to paint the color on top of the image. This should be done on a separate layer so if you have to erase you do not erase the image.

BINGO BANGO

 

[Sign Man]

Thanks very much for the help////Thats what I was looking for rockz!

 

[Bobby H]

That's not the approach I would use. The results end up looking like a colorized black and white movie: pretty fake. It's kind of like trying to use crayons or colored pencils to color in a black and white photo.

The fundamental problem is that shadow and highlight detail are not uniform levels of gray scale. You still have color in shadow and highlight. Photoshop's layer blending modes can help, but they don't fully solve the underlying problem.

The most effective thing to do is start with a full color image. Mask out the areas you want to isolate either by making alpha channel masks or creating vector paths with the pen tool. Copy those isolated elements onto another layer. Then do whatever you feel is best to make the rest of the photo go into gray scale.

 

[Shovelhead]

DESATURATE leads to beter results....

than converting to grayscale.

 

[Sign_Boy]

As Shovelhead said Desaturate does tend to work better. IMO

 

[toucan_graphics]

I created this duotone from a full color original (shown side by side)

Basically I duplicated the layer so I had 2 layers of the same image.
desaturate the duplicate layer and delete anything you wish to appear as color.
THe original layer will show through the deleted areas of the duplicate layer.

Flatten the image when done and there you are.

THere are several ways to create a duotone, and this is the one I have always used. It's somewhat archaeic but it's how I do it.

 

[Jakob77]

That's awesome. I've never wondered about this, but I had to try. Here's my first attempt. I copied the boat to a new layer and desaturated the background. It's too easy.

Mark