This. Selective colour. As I mentioned here before: a sin, a never-do, a teary clown: a cliché.
So why did I do it in that image I shot yesterday?
Because to every rule, there is an exception. Don’t ever let anyone tell you to “always” or “never” do something. Always or never means “Always or never – EXCEPT if you have a good reason in your own mind to break the rule”.
In this case, the image worked best in B/W, but the cool iPhone headset in luminous pink was too good to not show in colour. OK, selective colour then, and damn the torpedoes.
How:
- Go to the DEVELOP module in Lightroom
- Enter the HSL section and select S (Saturation)
- Drag down all colours to zero, The with the pick tool, select the handset and drag UP. (Red and Magenta, in this case).
- Now with the BRUSH tool, set saturation to zero, and wipe out any saturation in the rest of the image (face, hands, and so on).
Took me just a few seconds. Which is why I can try it out, and then decide perhaps the B/W version is better after all?
You judge. And remember: never take anything for granted in how you shoot. Always be ready to experiment. That’s how you get unexpected results. But also, never be afraid to throw out your experiments.