Quickmasking: Colorizing A Black & White Photograph

This lesson will cover the following selection techniques:
- Quickmasking
- Photoshop’s Selection tools (lasso, polygonal, etc.)

Download this image and open it in Photoshop:

Although the image will appear colorized, it will still remain black & white. It's only colorized through adjustment layers. This way you can always change the colors or remove them altogether.

The Basic Steps:

1. Press "Q" to enter Quickmask Mode.
   • Select the Brush Tool (B)
   • Right-click with the Brush to adjust the Hardness. Somewhere in the 80s should be good
   • Foreground/Background colors should be Black/White
   • Black ADDS the Quickmask. White REMOVES the Quickmask.
2. Press "Q" to convert the Quickmask into a selection.
3. Invert the selection (Ctrl Shift I), if necessary.
4. Apply a Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer
5. Check the "Colorize" box to force color into the area. Press OK.
6. Label the Hue/Saturation layer (dress, floor, skin, etc)
7. Repeat.
   

Quickmasking
Quickmasking is a technique that allows you to ‘color’ part of an image with a mask. That mask is then converted into a selection. This technique is useful when the conventional selection tools simply cannot give you an accurate or precise selection. Let’s review the procedure:

Use Quickmasking or any other selection technique to isolate regions of the image (the floor, the walls, her skin, etc….) If you Quickmasked, be sure to convert the mask into a selection by pressing the letter “Q”. Let’s say you’ve isolated the wood floor as a selection..

BELOW: A selection of the Floor is made. A Hue/Saturation Adjustment layer is loaded.

BELOW: "Colorize" is checked. Hue & Saturation sliders color the floor. Press OK.

BELOW: The new Hue/Saturation layer is renamed "Floor: