Create the Layers to Work With
Let the Color Show Through
A layer mask lets you erase parts of a layer by painting on the mask. White reveals the layer, black blocks it completely, and shades of gray partially reveal it. Because the mask is currently all white, the entire grayscale layer is being revealed. You’re going to block the grayscale layer, and reveal the color from the background layer by painting on the layer mask with black. There are a couple of ways to handle this, then. You can either manually paint your layer mask on the grayscale layer black with the Paintbrush Tool, or you can use one of the color selection tools on the underlying color layer to pick the areas that you want, and either delete or paint them black from the grayscale layer. The Select by Color Tool is probably the easiest option, since it’s easy to mess up with the brush. However, if your image doesn’t work well with that, you’ll need to use the brush.
Using the Paintbrush Tool
When all else fails, the Paintbrush Tool is your best option. It’s also a great way to clean up any areas missed by another tool.
Make Some Noise
Traditional black and white photography would ordinarily have some film grain. This was a digital photo so you won’t get that grainy quality, but we can add it with the noise filter. As you paint, use the bracket keys to increase or decrease the size of your brush:
[ makes the brush smaller] makes the brush largerShift + [ makes the brush softerShift + ] makes the brush harder
Crop and Export the Photo
Depending on the content of your photo, you may want to crop the image to focus the composition on the area you worked on. Use the Crop Tool to cut down your image, and re-frame it to focus. Then, export your image with File > Export As to create your finished, shareable, product.
