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| Roy G Biv in the House! |
Selective color is a fun process of making colors pop on an otherwise black and white image. I chose the image on the right to be my sample image because just about every color in the rainbow is on display here. Say hello to my oldest daughter a.k.a Monkey Jr.
Let me explain the purpose of selective color, as I understand it. Selective color is generally used to highlight something of significance in scene; think of the little girl in Schindler’s List with the red coat in a film that was shot in all black and white. The girl and her red coat was how it was seen through Schindler’s eyes. And when he saw the coat in the pile of burning bodies it was at this point that he realized he could no longer turn a blind eye to the evils being committed by the Nazi party and began his quest to save as many prisoners as he could. Selective color in that film was used very carefully to convey a powerful statement that made the viewing experience of the movie more personal for the viewer and created a personal attachment to the little girl that made her death more emotional.
Today, selective color is, for the most part, used all too freely. It does not make an impact to the photo. It is just used for the cool factor. But in the sea of selective color photos there are a few images that do selective color properly, but they are lost in that sea.
In presenting these seven presets, I suggest using this treatment where it will make an impact. Use it to add something other than the cool factor to your image. So without further lecturing I present the seven presets.
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| Selective Color: Aqua |
Selective Color: Aqua
Aqua is made up of two primary colors; green and blue. So to get the aqua to pop I adjusted the hue of the green to the aqua hue, +100, and the adjusted the hue of the blue to aqua, -100. There is no bump in saturation for any of the three hues, but all hues outside of aqua are taken to a saturation of -100.
While this photo, on the right, will not win any awards for brilliance, it does show the effectiveness of this preset quite well.
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| Selective Color: Blue |
Selective Color: Blue
Blue includes two colors outside of blue; purple and aqua. So to get the blue to pop I adjusted the hue of purple to the blue hue, -100, and adjusted the aqua hue to the blue hue. +100. There is no bump in saturation for any of the three hues, but all hues outside of blue are taken to saturation of -100.
In the case of the blue, some other tweak might need to be applied for this image. Notice the blue in her shirt and possibly her eyes? This would require a local adjustment brush, set to -100 saturation, to remove. A little more effort, yes, but the results would be stunning.
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| Selective Color: Green |
Selective Color: Green
Green includes two colors outside of the green hue; yellow and aqua. So to get the green to pop I adjusted the hue of aqua to the green hue, -100, and adjusted the yellow hue to the green hue. +100. There is no bump in saturation for any of the three hues, but all hues outside of green are taken to saturation of -100.
Some other tweak might need to be applied for an image. If the image had the girl wearing a green shirt or pants, this would require a local adjustment brush, set to -100 saturation, to remove. A little more effort, yes, but the results would be worth the effort.
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| Selective Color: Orange |
Selective Color: Orange
Orange includes two colors outside of the orange hue; yellow and red. So to get the orange to pop I adjusted the hue of yellow to the orange hue, -100, and adjusted the yellow hue to the red hue. +100. There is no bump in saturation for any of the three hues, but all hues outside of orange are taken to saturation of -100.
Some other tweaks need to be applied for this image. As you can see from this image, the girl’s face, hands and lips have an orange/reddish hue to them, basically any flesh tone. This would require a local adjustment brush, set to -100 saturation, to remove. It is a little more effort, yes, but the results would be worth it.
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| Selective Color: Purple |
Selective Color: Purple
Purple includes two colors outside of the purple hue; blue and magenta. So to get the purple to pop I adjusted the hue of magenta to the purple hue, -100, and adjusted the blue hue to the purple hue. +100. There is no bump in saturation for any of the three hues, but all hues outside of purple are taken to saturation of -100.
Some other tweaks need to be applied for this image. As you can see from this image, the girl’s shirt has a purple hue to it. This would require a local adjustment brush, set to -100 saturation, to remove. It is a little more effort, yes, but the results would be worth it.
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| Selective Color: Red |
Selective Color: Red
Red includes two colors outside of the red hue; orange and magenta. So to get the red to pop I adjusted the hue of orange to the red hue, -100, and adjusted the magenta hue to the red hue. +100. There is no bump in saturation for any of the three hues, but all hues outside of red are taken to saturation of -100.
Some other tweaks need to be applied for this image. As you can see from this image, the girl’s face, hands and lips has a purple hue to it. This would require a local adjustment brush, set to -100 saturation, to remove. It is a little more effort, yes, but the results would be worth it.
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| Selective Color: Yellow |
Selective Color: Yellow
Yellow includes two colors outside of the yellow hue; orange and green. So to get the yellow to pop I adjusted the hue of green to the yellow hue, -100, and adjusted the orange hue to the yellow hue. +100. There is no bump in saturation for any of the three hues, but all hues outside of red are taken to saturation of -100.
Some other tweaks need to be applied for this image. As you can see from this image, the girl’s face, hands and hair has a purple hue to it. This would require a local adjustment brush, set to -100 saturation, to remove. It is a little more effort, yes, but the results would be worth it.
Download Aqua Here
Download Blue Here
Download Green Here
Download Orange Here
Download Purple Here
Download Red Here
Download Yellow Here
To install the preset, copy the file in the zip (xxx.lrtemplate) to your Develop Presets folder on your computer. If you don't know where to find this folder, open Lightroom. Click on Edit menu and select Preferences. Click on the Presets tab and click the Show Lightroom Presets Folder... button.
