May I offer a Photoshop tip that offers a bit more control in doing
a combined image like yours? "Yes" you say? Ok, here you go! (the
explanation is long, the implementation is short, ok?)
Steps 1 and 2: great, keep 'em.
My tip is a modification of Step 3: instead of using the eraser
tool (which make a permanent change to your layer), create a layer
mask for your B&W layer, then use a standard paintbrush to "paint
in transparency" (what you'd actually be doing is masking, i.e.
literally "hiding", parts of the B&W layer so that the colour layer
shows through).
The advantage of this technique is that it's non-destructive
(you're not permanently changing any part of any layer) and that
it's very easy to bring back any part that's hidden. Totally
powerful tool.
First, hit the "d" key, that'll set the two colour swatches to
their default (hence "d") of black and white.
Then, under the "Layer" menu, choose "Add Layer Mask" and choose
the "show all" option.
It's important to note that the icon to the left of your layer in
the Layers palette will now be a sort of gray square with a white
hole (it was a paintbrush before you added the layer mask). That
means that you're now working in the layer mask of the layer. To
work in the actual pixels of the layer itself (say, to clone out a
bug off a daffodil bloom), just click on the layer thumbnail and
that Layers palette icon will change back into a paintbrush. To go
back to working in the layer mask, just click on that mostly white
rectangle that's to the right of the image thumbnail (hmm, I really
should provide screenshots. If I'm confusing you, ask and I'll put
some up).
When you are working in a mask of any type, anywhere you paint
using pure black you will hide that part of your layer (you are
painting in a literal "mask", it's kindof like actually erasing it,
but you're just hiding it, and you can show it again: that's the
really useful part). So, just choose a brush of appropriate size
and, using a black paintbrush just mask out the black and white
flowers.
To show stuff again, just paint with white in the layer mask. A
really quick way to switch from black to white with your paintbursh
is to use the keyboard shortcut "x" (this just flips the foreground
and background colours in your toolbar).
To partially hide a portion of your B&W layer, paint in your Layer
Mask with a gray paintbrush (this is where a layer mask is really
powerful).
Oh, and another helpful shortcut (this one's easy) is to use the
square brackets: "[" and "]" to quickly change your brush size,
instead of having to go back to the Brushes palette every time you
want a bigger or smaller brush (e.g. mask with a big brush for big
leaves, tiny brush size to mask the fiddly corners of flowers and
tips of leaves). The "[" bracket will shrink your brush, the "]"
will grow your brush.
So, using a layer mask, "x", "d", "[" and "]", you can quickly
paint in any complicated mask. And the great part, is that you can
tweak it until it's perfect by just removing or adding to the mask
until you're satisfied (unlike using the eraser tool, which you can
undo without resorting to the History palette, and then you're
undoing everything back to a certain point! Pain in the butt)
Hope this is useful to you.
Cheers!
Chas
ps. get a graphics tablet, abolutely indespensible when painting in
Photoshop (I use mine
a lot when doing complicated masking, like
with your daffodils). Way better than a mouse, far more precise
control.
I actually spent about 30 minutes or so doing each one. Here's
what I did...
1. Created a Channel Mixer layer on the original.
2. Converted to monochrome and adjsuted the RGB channels so that
the B&W was to my liking.
3. I blew up the pic to around 200% and then used the eraser tool
to erase the areas of the flowers and stems on the channel mixer
layer to bring back the color from the original background.
The tough part was staying within the lines of the flowers and
stems. If you blow the pic up or look closely, you'll see a few
places of brown fence or ground where I goofed a little. It's hard
to tell on the web so I wasn't too worried. If I decide to print
one, I'll spend more time and be more precise!
Take care,
Teski
I like the 1st shot (b&w) a lot more--it's more interesting scene.
The placement and strong colors of the flowers command my attention
there.
How much time did you spent post-proc. this image and how did you
sellect just flowers and leaves to keep the colors? I tried using
magic-wan in my last attempt but I find myself having to select and
select and keep selecting... a bit of frustration.
Cool effect, bud.
The'
