LYL On Air – Ep 1: How to Do Spot Colour on a Black and White Image

Have you ever wondered how you make a part of your image colour in an otherwise black and white photo? Do you need big boy software like Photoshop or Lightroom to do it?

You can do this quickly and easily with the Snapseed app on your phone. There are a few ways to do this even in Snapseed but here's my preferred method.

Why would you want to use spot colour in a black and white image?

The simple answer is to draw attention to a particular part of your image. But there are lots of ways to do that so why do it this way? By leaving the main subject in colour you are also making an artistic choice. And it certainly doesn't work on all images. In fact it was such a widely and over-used technique at one time that it grew to be cheesy and quite naff! However, it is definitely seeing a comeback now and, when done well, can be a really effective. To avoid your image being perceived as naff ask yourself if it really looks better with spot colour or if it would be more powerful in full black and white or full colour. If I'm being honest the image I've chosen to show you how to do it is not a great use of spot colour. This is a much better example.

I hope you enjoy creating your own spot colour images and have found this video useful. Let me know in the comments and keep the photography chat going by following me on Instagram and Facebook.