Photo Tricks: The Magic of Desaturation

Ever seen photos with just a little splash of color while the rest of it is in grayscale? It’s a neat little trick photo-editors use to make certain elements of the image ‘pop’. I have tried using it successfully for quite some time now but the results still never fail to mesmerize me. All you do is use the ‘Select tool’ to make a clean selection of the region you want to keep, ‘Inverse’ your selection to select the area that needs to be converted to gray, and using a ‘Desaturation Mask’, bring the saturation levels all the way down. Here is a little example to show my point. Do give this a try and let me know how yours turned out!

After the treatment

 

The original shot

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Motha’ Nature

Interestingly, these photos were taken at an outdoor birthday party (1st birthday, to be precise). I ended up taking photos of everything but the birthday boy himself. A fun-filled day spent with family and friends, it sure was a one-of-a-kind birthday. Moreover, it was a good day for getting close to nature.

Here’s what I ended up with. Enjoy!

At Death's Door

Get your buzz on!

New Beginnings

Cacticious

Hop till you drop

She comes in colors everywhere

Sky-high-cacti

What's up, doc?

Sin City Rabbit

What red-eye reduction?

Alien Plantation

i'm fROSEn

I might be setting for now, but I'll be back

Let me sleep

Thorny Silhouette

I see God in everything

Beautification

What are you lookin' at?