Introduction to the Photoshop Technique of Color Splashing

By: Zechariah Riojas Photos by: Zechariah Riojas

Introduction Materials Needed Materials Description Getting Started Color Splashing an Easy Photo Color Splashing a Hard Photo Appendix Troubleshooting

Table of Contents

This guide will teach you some of the basic controls of Photoshop by introducing you to the editing technique of color splashing. You will be introduced to two types of selection tools and a layer adjustment. The tools used in color splashing can be applied to many other techniques and will give you an idea of what can be accomplished with Photoshop. So what is a color splashed photo? A color splashed photo is any photo that has selective colorization. For example, the photos on the cover page are color splashed photos. This technique is not used to fix photos and is purely for aesthetic purposes. No knowledge of Photoshop is necessary, and the steps will teach you how to use various tools that Photoshop has to offer. This guide will not teach you how to take photos or how to upload photos from your camera.

Materials Needed
1. 2. 3. Computer running Windows XP/Vista/7 or Macintosh OSX Photoshop CS5 Photo that possesses color splash potential

1.

Computer running Windows XP/Vista/7 or Macintosh OSX

Any computer made in the past 5 years will have no problem running Photoshop. The program is highly compatible, but it will run faster on a newer, more powerful computer. Do not panic if while editing a photo the program slows down to a complete stop; it is still working. It is just handling something that is graphic intensive.

Materials Description

2.

Photoshop CS5

CS5 is the latest version of Photoshop and also the version of Photoshop that will be used throughout this guide. You can get a 30-day trial version for free at the Adobe website. The trial includes all the features the full version has. You can also use older programs, but they may not possess the same tools and features. For the purpose of color splashing, CS3 and CS4 will work guaranteed. Anything older cannot be guaranteed. 3.

Photo that possesses color splash potential

A photo that is already black and white is an example of a photo with no color splash potential. Photos that have an object with one color that stands out from its surroundings is an example of a photo with good color splash potential. The photo on the left would be an example of a bad photo due to the lack of contrast, while the photo on the right is an example of a good photo because of the red on green contrast.

Getting Started
1. If you have a disc then put the disc in your computer and follow the steps provided. It should do everything automatically If you dont have a disc go to adobe.com Click on the Downloads link at the top of the page and select Trial Downloads
If you have already installed Photoshop skip to page 6.

5.

After that click on the yellow Download button

Your operating system and language should automatically be selected for you. If they are not correct click on the arrows and scroll through the list of products until you find your correct language and operating system.

2. 3.

4.

This will take you to the downloads page where you should select Photoshop>Try

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Once you click on the download button you will be prompted to either sign in to your Adobe account or create one.

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Either hit Sign in or Create an Adobe Account if you have an account or not. If you do not have an account you will be prompted for certain information. After you input the required fields create your account.

(approximately 10 minutes) 11. Once it is finished downloading you need to install it 12. Open the downloaded file 13. If you are on a Mac it will open a window with the program in it. All you have to do is drag the program into your applications folder. With a Windows OS it should automatically install it on your computer. 14. Photoshop has now been installed on your computer and you are ready to get started.

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You will be redirected to Akamai Download Manager Installer On this page they will also give you the option to download the files directly. Click on the File 1 of 1 link. This will start the download of Photoshop.

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The download will take sometime depending on your internet speed

Color Splashing an Easy Photo

1. 2. Open Photoshop Choose the photo you wish to color splash
Be sure to select a photo that has a high contrast object. For this guide I will show you how I made the first cover photo

3.

Once you have opened the photo go to the toolbar on the left and select the Quick Selection tool

4.

5.

Use the Quick Selection tool to highlight the object you wish to color splash by clicking on it and dragging it across the object If you have more than one

object in the photo that you wish to color splash, hold shift and then click and drag on the object
If you select something you did not want and wish to keep your previous selection, then hit control+z. This will undo your most recent selection while keeping your previous selections.

7.

Now go to your layers panel and right click on Background Layer

The layers panel displays the different layers that a photo contains. The more you edit it, it is likely you will have more layers. If you cannot find your layers panel then hit F7. This should bring up the layers panel.

8.

Select the option to Duplicate layer

9. 6. After selecting the objects you wish to color splash, right click on the photo and hit Select Inverse
Right click and hit Save Selection to save your selection in case you deselect it. You do not have to worry about where it will be saved because it will be in a temporary folder.

It will give the new layer the default name of Background Copy. You can change the name or leave it. Then hit Ok to continue. The reason you duplicate the layer is so when you make changes to one layer it does not affect the entire photo.

Now select the Background Copy layer in the Layers panel

Your selection should still be highlighted but if not, then go to Select on the menu bar and

Load Selection.

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After you select the Background Copy layer, hit delete or backspace depending on whether you have a PC or Macintosh.
Your photo should not look any different after the deletion. This is because you only deleted the material on one layer. This allows for changes on the Background layer to show through.

shown, then go to Window on the menu bar and click on Adjustments

11. 12.

Select the Background layer in the Layers panel Go to the Adjustments panel and select the black and white adjustment

Doing this will change the Background layer to black and white but not the Background Copy layer. This is because the black and white adjustment creates its own layer. This layer affects all the layers beneath it, making them black and white. If the Adjustments panel is not

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Your easy photo is now color splashed.

Color Splashing a Hard Photo

1.
This section is meant to review what you learned in te previous section and then add on a few extra techniques

Open a photo that would be more difficult to color splash

A photo that would be considered difficult to color splash would have multiple objects and the objects themselves would have varying colors, for example the picture on the cover of the peaches.

3.

Now select all of the objects in the photo you wish to color splash
Do not forget that if you make a mistake you can undo it by hitting crt+z. For more advanced users you may also use the History panel. This panel shows every single edit you have made and allows for you to quickly undo a large amount of things. If you cannot locate the History panel go to Window on the menu bar and select History.

2.

This time we will use the Magic Wand tool to select our object
The Magic Wand tool is in the same place as the Quick Selection tool. When selecting multiple things with the Magic Wand tool you have to hold down shift.

4.

When using the Magic Wand tool you may need to adjust the Tolerance. This can be done by going to the upper part of the screen and changing the number in the Tolerance box.
The Tolerance determines how similar a color has to be to the area you selected in order for

them to be selected along with it. This can make it difficult and quite tedious when dealing with low contrasting colors, but it also makes it more accurate than the Quick Selection tool.

8. 9.

10.

Then select the duplicate layer and delete the selected area Select the Background layer and then apply the black and white adjustment in the Adjustments panel Your hard photo is now color splashed

5.

After selecting the objects you wanted, right click and select the inverse

6.

7.

Then go to the Layers panel and right click the Background layer and duplicate it Name the duplicate layer whatever you want

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Layers panel - This allows the user to manage all the layers that their image is currently made out of. It gives the user the option to create new layers, flatten the image, move layers, lock layers, and much more. Color splash An editing technique where two layers are used to selectively colorize an image. Magic Wand tool This is a selection tool that detects pixels around a selection and determines if they are similar enough to be included in the selection. It can be adjusted to be more or less tolerant of color. Quick Selection tool This is a selection tool that lets you select large, similar areas quickly. It is less precise than the Magic Wand tool but quicker. History panel The history panel shows all actions that the user has made during the editing of a photo. It allows for the user to quickly revert back 10 or 15 steps for any reason. Tolerance This is used in conjunction with the Magic Wand tool. It determines how picky the Magic Wand tool will be. The higher the toleration, the greater the contrast of the selected pixels will be. Adjustments panel This panel contains many different editing features such as black and white, posterize, and brightness and contrast. Contrast It is determined by the difference in the color and brightness of the object and other objects within the same field of view.

Appendix

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Troubleshooting
Question: My photo shows a lock in the Layers panel. How do I unlock the file? Answer: Most photos open with the background locked. To unlock it, you need to convert the background to a layer. You can do this by double-clicking on the background layer in the layers palette, or by going to the menu: Layer > New > Layer from Background. Question: How do I save a Photoshop file for an older version of Photoshop? Answer: There is an option in Photoshop preferences called "Maximize PSD File Compatibility" (under menu Edit > Preferences > File Handling). You will want to make sure this is set to "Always" or "Ask." Turning this option on, however, does result in larger file sizes. If you only need this feature occasionally, you can set it to "Ask" and Photoshop will ask you if you want to maximize compatibility every time you save a file. When this option is used, the layers are saved along with a flattened composite of the image. Question: How do I stop the crop tool from automatically snapping to the edge of an image? Answer: You can disable this snapping behavior by going to View > Snap to > Document Bounds. Remove the checkmark from Document Bounds, and Photoshop will no longer try to help you out by snapping to the edges of your document. If you have questions that were not answered, then go to the Photoshop website. There you can search based on your issue for solutions or tips. http://help.adobe.com/en_US/photoshop/cs/using/index.html

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