Create a Color Splash Effect in Photoshop

How do you make a picture pop out? Ever notice professional wedding images or sports portraits that have a football or wedding dress in color while the rest of the picture is black and white? It’s called a color splash effect and the result is quite flattering.

Make images and colors pop out in Photoshop

The result is stunning so the steps to get it just right need to be following precisely with little room for error.
Start by choosing the original layer and copying it with a “Ctrl+J.”


Select the background layer (the original) and make it black and white from the “Image > Adjustments > Black & White…” menu item or enter “Alt+Shift+Ctrl+B.”


Accept the default black and white settings for now.


Notice the new black and white background layer, as nothing else on the main image will change because the colored layer is still on top.


The color splash effect can be done one of two ways. Either select the top, colored layer and remove everything you want to be black and white. This would be ridiculously unnecessary so to make it quicker, move the black and white layer on top the “Tulips copy” layer. You could also have just made the top layer black and white in the previous step to avoid this moving of the layer.
With this top, black and white layer selected, begin using the “Polygonal Lasso Tool (L)” to select the spaces that should retain color. Press the delete key to erase this portion of the top layer and reveal the bottom, colored layer.


Keep doing this for every part of the image and the color splash effect will really come out.
Instead of using the lasso tool, simply select the “Eraser (E)“ to remove the top portion with a brush-like stroke.