Masking with Gimp

I have had  a number of people ask how I do the black and white with a touch of color, so I figured I would share my techniques.   Before I begin, I think it is important to point out that it does take a lot of patients to do this, but it really is not too difficult. 


I use GIMP, an open source alternative to Photoshop.  Gimp is free an so far does the job for my needs, so I don't feel like it is worth spending the money on Photoshop at this point.

1. Open the original image in Gimp.
2. Open the Layer Window.
3. Copy the Layer and Rename to Mask (or whatever you want to name it).
4. Make sure the Mask layer is selected, then click on Colors and then Desaturate.
5. Choose the Luminosity Option and click OK.
6. Right Click on the Mask Layer and select "Add Layer Mask".
7. Select White (full opacity) and Click Add.
8. Select the "Paintbrush Tool" (You will need to play with the different options here)
9. Zoom In on the area you want to make color and start coloring by using the paintbrush tool.   

That is pretty much all there is to masking.  When I have time, I will add a short video on how to do this, but if you follow the directions above you should do fine.  

Elizabeth Special, originally uploaded by treylawyer.

Another Image I recently masked using Gimp!