In this Photoshop tutorial, we'll learn an easy way to create a popular selective coloring effect, converting a photo to black and white while leaving the main subject in full color. If that sounds complicated or time consuming, it's not. In fact, as we'll see, the entire effect can be created in just a few short steps using nothing more than a selection tool, an adjustment layer and a layer mask!
To create the effect, we'll be using a Black & White image adjustment, first introduced in Photoshop CS3, which means you'll need Photoshop CS3 or higher to follow along. I'll be using CS5 here, but any version from CS3 on up will work.
