I like this version, but I think I’d like to add in just a little more of the pink. I think the ballet slippers and hair bow would add in just enough colour. To do this, it’s going to take a little bit of fancy Photoshop footwork, but it can be done relatively painlessly. (Now, I’m no Photoshop expert, and there may be easier ways of doing this, but I’m going to show you the way that works for me.)

• First, I’m going to take a “sample” of the colour of my daughter’s skirt. It takes the guesswork out of deciding how to find the right shade of pink. From my left sidebar, I select the color sampler tool which is the eyedropper with the little black square beside it.
• Then, I move to a section of the skirt and click on it to take a color sample. In the box that appears, it shows that R (red) is 203, G (green) is 162 and B (blue) is 181. These are the numbers I’ll need to use to turn the grey slipper into a pink one.

• First, I used my magnetic lasso tool again to select my daughter’s ballet slipper.
• Then, from my top toolbar, I selected Image>>Adjust>>Color Balance.

• Now, the color balance tool only allows you to make changes in increments of 100, so I’ll have to change the numbers a couple of times to get them right. (Here’s where it gets a bit tricky. Just keep in mind that it’s only math and you’re trying to get the numbers to add up – in this case, R 203, G 162, B 181).
• First, I change them all to 100 and press ok. Then I go back to the color balance tool a second time and change the numbers to R 100, G 62, B 81. If I really wanted to, I could go back a third time and change the R to 3 (so that the total would be 203), but I’m not too fussy. It’s close enough!

(If the whole “color selection and math” thing seems too fussy for you, you can always just pull up the color balance tool and play with the colours until they look right to you. I’m all about what’s easiest!)

• When I was happy with the colour in the first slipper, I repeated the same steps for the second slipper and the hair bow.

Voila! From colour to selective colour in a snap!

Then, just ’cause I’m a glutton for punishment, I tried a couple of the preset filters, just to pretend I’m all artistic like that.

This one is Filter>>Artistic>>Film Grain.

And this one is Filter>>Artistic>>Poster Edges.

This technique works with all kinds of photos, from isolating the icy blue of your husband’s eyes to capturing the bold colours of a sunset. Have fun with your pictures and don’t be afraid to experiment in Photoshop. You just may stumble upon a technique or filter that you really love!

**Editor’s Note: For alternate Selective Color Methods, see our posts:

• Creating “Spot Color” Photos: A Tutorial
• Selective Colorization Using Adobe Photoshop