How to Select an Object in Photoshop & Make Everything Else Black & White

Camera settings often have the option to take a picture in full color or render your image into black and white, but they can't do both. To have a single picture featuring both a black and white area and color in one spot requires a couple of extra steps, starting with a graphics software program such as Adobe Photoshop. Photoshop offers the tools to quickly select an object, designate it to keep its color and then change everything else to black and white.

Instructions

1. Open Photoshop, click the "File" menu and select "Open." Navigate to the photo to render black and white and double-click the file name. The picture opens in the Photoshop workspace. Click the "View" menu and select "Fit on Screen" so the entire image fits on the workspace.

2. Click the "Lasso" tool on the "Tools" palette on the left side of the screen. Draw an outline around the object to keep in full color. When blinking dotted lines appear, right-click inside them and select "Layer via Copy."

3. Pull down the "Window" menu and select "Layers" to open the "Layers" palette on the right side of the screen. It may already be open by default. Notice two layers: Background, with the original image and Layer 1, with the object.

4. Click the Background layer so it is highlighted in blue. Pull down the "Image" menu, click "Adjustments" and select "Black & White." When the "Black and White" window opens, leave the options as their Photoshop defaults and click the "OK" button. The image, except the selected object, turns to black and white.

5. Check the image without the color section by clicking the small eyeball icon to the left of the Layer 1 line on the "Layers" palette. This hides the color layer so only black and white is showing. Click the eyeball again and the object is back in color.

6. Click the small lines icon at the top-right of the "Layers" palate. Select "Flatten Image." Click the "File" menu, select "Save As" and type a new name for the picture to preserve the full-color original.

References

• University of Washington: Photoshop Selections