Selective Desaturation: Focus on Subject...Colorfully!

Photographers are like runners in that we are a unique breed!
Photographers & runners are Finishers!
Once a goal has been set it must be accomplished...or...Die trying!

Finishing is a given (We will cross the finish line with 92 degrees of body heat, but WE WILL FINISH! I did this in the only marathon I completed without walking a step, the 1988 Jacksonville (FL) Marathon. It was 32 degrees outside and drizzly. These factors in themselves probably helped me to finish...I was numb. Three hours, 38 minutes and some change...Not amazing, but a respectable finish for a 27-year-old who had only attempted one other marathon before.)

In review, to a photographer & a runner with the HEART of a photographer & a runner, Finishing is the only option! (That is not advocacy for finishing at any cost! In my first marathon, I only ran 20 miles. I knew my body then. I know my body now. I know when to quit! However, I will not quit until I know in my heart that I have thoroughly 'squeezed every bit of turnip blood' out of every option and it is obvious that at least for now...everything is ineffectual.)

1. Finishing is the only option!
2. Finishing first is always the goal!
3. Finishing with a pat on the back by somebody who "gets you" is all that is necessary to keep a photographer & a runner going on indefinitely!

(Let me pause to express a hearty "Thank You" to everyone who has given me a kind word on any of my pages so far during my enjoyable friendship with Photoblog. My deepest regrets to all my friends on Photoblog for not getting to your pages faithfully every day as you have to mine...for we are all busy with our own lives. It remains my goal to improve my frequency as I am able.)

The latest educational concept for me is selective desaturation, the ability to focus all eyes on my subject because it is the only part of a black & white photo that has color.

Thank you for your graciousness as I display my fledgling efforts. :)

P.S.: ADDITIONAL INFORMATION 2 EDUCATE!...

Desaturation is actually just a fancy word for taking a color photo and making it black & white.

It's easy enough to change a color jpeg (i.e. ".jpg", the commonest digital photo file) to black & white,...if you know where to look.

HERE is your road map: Working in PhotoShop Elements 4.0 (as I do,) Three Pull-Down Selection Windows to the right of the far left FILE is the word ENHANCE. Right-click the Enhance pull-down window, then move your cursor to the very bottom one ADJUST COLOR. This will open a whole new window. Locate the phrase REMOVE COLOR, right-click it, and voila'...you have a black & white photo from a color photo.

Now, Selective Desaturation is a little harder, but not much. On the right side of the PS Elements 4.0 work space is a column of tools. Locating the Magic Wand Tool (that looks like a line with a bid dot on the end surrounded by the same kind of cartwheel lines we used to use as children to indicate that the circle we had just drawn in the upper portion of our landscape picture was indeed the sun,) I right-click the symbol which turns my cursor into a magic wand.

I may then move my cursor/magic wand over any item in my photo that I want to select. A subsequent right-click will tell the tool to select for me all like-colored pixels (as well as similarly-colored pixels, usually within 25%-30% range...lighter or darker) that are adjacent to my cursor.

High Contrast areas (i.e. widest range of lightness to darkness) are the easiest to select with the Magic Wand Tool. As you have pointed out, this means that the easiest photo/most expertly finalized photo in the whole set is the one with the yellow swingset seat.