B&W Challenge No. 66 - Black and White with a Touch of Color

[hmca]

Creating black and white images with a touch of color was popular a number of years ago.   To combat the bleakness of January, I thought it might be a fun topic to explore this month.   As with all B&W challenges, a look through your archives is always permissible, and for this particular challenge, might be a good place to start.   Think about where and why you want to draw the viewer's attention.  Here are a couple of sites that may offer some inspiration.

The World in Black and White Art by Sandi Accuosti


Art.com


Tutorials for PS and PE can be found below.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZWcoLIW81M

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRN2AX0UNcg

www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCT_edtU0Vo


Looking through my archives I found two images that I had processed using this technique.





Looking forward to seeing what you come up with.  

EDIT  While creating this challenge I kept feeling like we had done this before.  Multiple searches of the B/W index brought up nothing.  Today it entered my mind if we might have done this as a CE Challenge......Voila!  It can be found here  where you can find some additional inspiration from our members.  Sadly some of the images are missing.

[tonyw]

Interesting challenge - wasn't quite sure what to pick but this one from Halloween was the first that popped up when I scrolled through the archives.



Tony

[hmca]

Well I think presenting it with just the one color does enhance the impact! Thanks for getting this started, Tony.

[PeteB]

Thanks for the challenge. This is an older image that I recently converted to b&w... so it was a perfect image for me to try this approach. I used the mask technique

[hmca]

Jan 5, 2023 22:16:25 GMT PeteB said:

it was a perfect image for me to try this approach

Agree! Great choice.

[VickiD]

Haven't done this effect in years, Helen! Thanks for this one. These sunflowers were shot in a yard in New Hope, PA, a number of years ago. There were 4, but I cropped for the three that are currently yellow. The one below had no yellow left, so it was converted with the rest of the photo. I used a layer mask to bring back the yellow of the flowers after converting the top layer to Black and White in Nik Silver Efex Pro.

[pontiac1940]

Not exactly stealing VickiD's idea. 
Wild sunflowers.  

[VickiD]

LOL, Clive...and I love your wild sunflower!

[pontiac1940]

Like Miss Simpson said in Grade 7, "Does not listen well to instructions."
Variation on a theme. 

[Jim]

Reflecting Pool

A photo from my history that I took in the courtyard of the Pasadena City Hall.

[hmca]

VickiD .....using color on the sunflowers accentuates their diagonal placement in the image.
pontiac1940 ......your sunflower brings some cheer to another bleak January day here on the east coast.
As for the bluejay.....


Jim ....a well-thought-out image for this topic.  I like the way the colored reflection is tucked into the corner.

[pontiac1940]

House finch. I left the feet in the BW zone. See how its lower body as picked up reflected green off the Mugho pine. 
 

[pontiac1940]

Jan 5, 2023 22:16:25 GMT PeteB said:

This is an older image that I recently converted to b&w... so it was a perfect image for me to try this approach.

Very neat photo Pete. Fun sign.  

[PeteB]

I came across these colorful cars last fall but the fall foliage in the background competed for attention. So I thought this approach might solve my problem. I first converted to b&w, used a mask to bring back the select color, and then further darkened the background. Added a vignette to darken the corners.  After posting, I may have darkened too much.

[hmca]

Your house finch, with just a touch of color, is a beautiful addition to this thread, pontiac1940.

Jan 6, 2023 16:54:39 GMT PeteB said:

After posting, I may have darkened too much.

I don't think it was darkened too much but I wonder if the colors could use a little "pop"? Great find and another well-chosen image.