Colours in a black and white photo

I love that effect where you see a single colour in a black and white photograph. I saw an example again yesterday and decided it was time to learn how to achieve it.

I used Photoshop to manipulate the image. I don't think I could do it with my free version of Photoplus (V8) but if you know different please let me know.

After a few dead end experiments, I finally came across this method of using the colour replace feature. Not absolutely workable for all images as you will see below but good enough.

The photo was not particularly brilliant but does show the effect. So I tried it out on a couple of other images to make sure I could do it properly.

I liked the example with the fuchsia, it did seem to work quite well. The example with the tulips did show the one issue with this method. I could not change the red foliage in the background. Maybe with a lot of tweaking it would be possible but in trying to select the red foliage the tulips were always partly selected. However to try and make it easy I had selected a high fuzzy value, this decides how broad the range of selected colours will be. So doing it with a low fuzzy value should be the answer. I will experiment and let you know how I get on.

So what did I do?

With the image in the active window, select image / adjustments / replace colour.

I set the Fuzziness as indicated above to about 170.
Select the colour picker, on the left of the 3 dropper icons.
now click on the image to select the colour to replace. If you select the middle icon you can add other colour values near to the initial colour .
Now reduce saturation as much as required, and adjust lightness if required.

Repeat this for any colours you need to desaturate.

You should now have an image with just the colour you wish to preserve in a black and white background.

I love this software I am experimenting and learning all the time. Lots of clever tricks have tutorials written for them but I need to know the simple effects that are possible. Walk before you can run is my motto.

A short holiday in Glastonbury

Just back from a very short break in and around Glastonbury - no festival this year but a lovely place to relax and recuperate.

For my first photo, a shot of one of the yards or alleys off the high street. A number of shops on the left of this image.

My second is a statue of a godess and her hound in the courtyard of the Glastonbury experience.

Both quite standard shots but interesting. My new camera has a 10X zoom and I have been trying this out. This next photo shows a stone carving above the side door of St John The Baptist Church on the high street. We approached the street along a pedestrian alley from where we had parked the car and over the fence was the church. But some distance away. I took some photos of course but set up the camera by holding it on the fence to take some shots with the zoom. Here is one example:-

Not a bad shot, tho' I say so myself. Could probably do with having the contrast improved however.

We also visited a nearby NT property with a garden designed with many small rooms, Lytes-Cary Manor. The rest of the photos were taken in the garden. The first two using the macro function and the last used the zoom again.

All the above images were heavily cropped before being resized for this post. More holiday shots next time.

The case of the disappearing wheelbarrow

Just a quick post, I was getting a few photographs ready for posting and realised that I had an intruder in one of the shots, a wheelbarrow.

Not being able to go back and take another photo, I decided to doctor it in PS. I think I have done a good job, what do you think?

The dish is called Galadriel's Mirror and is in a garden that we visited recently. More info and shots in the next post. But for now .... now you see it, and now you don't. I am learning to use this great editing tool.

BTW for those interested I simply used the CLONE STAMP tool - carefully!

Orchids - A Natural For Photography

We have a small orchid growing on a windowsill at the top of our stairs. It gives a great display every year and gives me another excuse to get the camera out.

This year however, it has given me an extra reason. Can you see the undeveloped flower at the bottom in the centre. I have no idea if this sis common but I have certainly never seen it before.

There appear to be no reproductive organs on this flower. Take a look at a complete bloom:

Can you see the difference? Of course you can it is very obvious. I am trying to find out a little about this phenomenon and how often it is seen, I will post any answers I get on the blog if you are interested - or maybe you know the answer. If so, please let me know via the comments box.

The orchid makes a great subject for photgraphy. It is such a beautiful flower but being virtually all white the shadows take on an importance perhaps not often seen. Especially in the location of this plant - with a window directly behind it. I used to set the camera Samsung compact) to BACKLIT. But the new camera FUJI Finepix) does not have this feature or I haven't found it yet. What I need to do is to aim the camera and make certain that a dark object is in the centre of the viewer. Then depress the shutter button half-way. Re-focus the camera on the subject and ddepress the shutter fully. Quite a performance compared to the Samsung.

Still it appears to work but comparing photos which I had taken at family gatherings with the same shot by others using this method; I think the Samsung method gives a better picture overall. Maybe it is a question of getting used to it and selecting the right place to foccus on so that the camera can make the correct calculations.

Weekends away coming up so I should have lots of photos to post over the next couple of months.

Spring Flowers

I have been photogaphing the spring flowers in my garden with my new camera.

forget-me not

 

star magnolia

Bearded Iris

The garden and the flowers which bloom throughout the year have always been a great source of images for me. I love pottering with my camera, especially when the sun is shining. My new Coolpix camera has a feature to prevent images being blurred and I seem to be getting better close-ups with the macro feature. Here are a couple of examples.

You can see more of my garden / flower photographs on Redgage. See my profile on Redgage.

Redgage is a site that pays for content and links to your articles and images on other sites on the web why not give it a try. It is not a get-rich-quick site, far from it but does pay for work that you are posting on to the web in blogs or other sites.

Enjoy Your Local Canal Waterway

A very sunny afternoon last week was enjoyed by taking my camera with me for a walk along our local canal towpath.

A Moorhen, usually very timid. Took this using the optical zoom feature.

 

Here the "cut" is quite low, with fields and small-holdiings on both sides.

A field allowed to become a "natural" meadow.

Dandelion "clock" aka a seedhead, taken with the macro feature.

Dandelion flower, taken with the macro feature. 

A garden deck built out over the steep bank, here the cut is very deep; at least 80-100 feet.

I mentioned last time about a new Fujifilm Coolpix camera, and it seems to have far more options and features than my Samsung compact, so I thought I needed a crash course. After reading the manual, I decided to make use of the sun and get a little practical class with my camera. I took a number of photographs whilst enjoying a "walk in the country". 

As usual, i found the walk to be so very relaxing and couldn't help thinking about how little used the canal is as a source of fun / leisure activities. When I arrived back home I decided to write a new Squidoo lens about the issue. You can read the resulting article, Enjoy You Local Canal Waterway on Squidoo, hope you get the chance and enjoy it. Lots more photos contained on the page.

Using The Camera's Timer For Self Portraits

Bought myself a couple of tee-shirts from my Zazzle store and decided to photograph myself wearing them. An opportunity to earn a little extra in a competition run by Zazzle. Also another chance to use the camera's timer. Something which I don't often think about. Once or twice on holiday I use it to take photos of my wife and I, just to prove we were there together.

On most modern cameras it is simplicity itself to use, and can be very useful to take shots you could not get without third party help. The only issue is composing the shot. When taking my wife and I, it is simple to arrange the camera to frame her and then after pressing the shutter I have the usual 10 seconds to join in the pose. However, taking my own picture as here, I needed several shots to get one which didn't cut off my head.

If you have never used this facility, you need to press the button which sets up the timer (with an expensive model you may need to set the time) and when the shot is ready press the exposure button. Then quickly put yourself into the shot. View the result and decide if it is what you wanted. If not then repeat - as many times as necessary!

The images shave been cropped here to show off the tee-shirts. The text on the images is what you can't see on the shirts below the respective images. Perhaps a little help with taking the shots and composing them would have been useful with these.