Black and white and colour?

[DzRbenson]

I feel stupid, But have forgotten how to do a simple thing in CS3.

I have a colour photo, Want to turn it Black and White and then use a tool to make parts of it coloured...

I used to be able to do this, but lack of use I have forgotten, Cheers

[davwhite]

Found this link for the Colour to B&W http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/exchange/index.cfm?event=extensionDetail&loc=en_us&extid=1137969

[dbax]

duplicate layer
desaturate layer(method of your choice)
with the BW layer on top, Layer>layer mask> hide all
then paint the areas you want BW with a White brush.

or do it the otherway around and paint in the areas you want colour.
Hope this helps:D good luck, I've had mental blocks on these things as well, frustrating aint it:D

[davwhite]

My mental block has something to do with the year I was born :D

[Jordan Compte]

I knew there was another way and I found it!
you can also do this without creating a new layer

Image>Adjustments>Hue/Saturation>Drag Saturation back the other way

[TOM]

Another way is to convert to black and white and then use the history brush to paint back the colour.

[saratoga]

I knew there was another way and I found it!
you can also do this without creating a new layer

Image>Adjustments>Hue/Saturation>Drag Saturation back the other way

But why wouldn't you want to use a layer?

I never work on the background layer....my first action on opening a file for editing is to duplicate the background layer. Layers give you far more flexibility. Try the adjustment layers (circle cut into black and white halves) at the bottom of the layers pallette.....once you start using these you will never go back. You can turn them on and off, change the opacity of them, use masks, change the blending mode and group them with one or more layers....and when you are finally happy you can flatten the image and save......SO much more flexibility!

For B & W you can also use the Channel mixer adjuxtment layer in monochrome mode......this can give some drastic effects to a B & W image, and then you can mask it and paint back in the colours.