50 Outstanding Examples of Selective Color Photography

Selective color is a post-processing technique where most of a photo is converted to black and white, but some parts are left in color. This is usually achieved by using layers and masks in photo editing software. Black and white photography can give very powerful meaning to a photo, but sometimes a bit of color makes it truly outstanding. The selective color technique emphasizes parts of the photo and draws more attention to the subject. It can turn your plain photo into a real work of art. Here are 50 outstanding examples of such photographies. Enjoy!

Mary Poppins Selective Coloring

Mary Poppins Selective Coloring author: SDG-Pictures

Tora Selective Colouring

Tora Selective Colouring author: smurfie_77

Selective Color HDR

Selective Color HDR author: linse_lus

Yellow City

Yellow City author: Notice-the-Color

Fall Selective Color

Fall Selective Color author: Brandon Godfrey

Sunset After the Rain Selective Colour

Sunset After the Rain Selective Colour author: felixspencer2

Zebra Butterfly Selective Color

Zebra Butterfly Selective Color author: tazman61

Molly Selective Colouring

Molly Selective Colouring author: smurfie_77

Two-Face Flower

Two-Face Flower author: delco714

Angel Selective Colour

Angel Selective Colour author: Venvierra

Selective Colour Monks

Selective Colour Monks author: Andrew _ B

Tulips VIII

Tulips VIII author: YuriPanda

Yellow Flower

Yellow Flower author: gramola2three

Flower – Selective Color

Flower - Selective Color author: benono06

Selective Color-Duck

Selective Color-Duck author: abbybatchelder

Peacock

Peacock author: peppermint nightmare

Candy Cane

Candy Cane author: Kingdom Animalia

Koenigsegg CCX

Koenigsegg CCX author: T_hijs

Eagle Close-Up

Eagle Close-Up author: Nikon66

Dewy Pine Leaf Uncurling

Dewy Pine Leaf Uncurling author: DrWurm

Fall: Selective Coloring

Fall: Selective Coloring author: kelly ann t

Selective Color

Selective Color author: Een fotograaf

Telephone in Selective Colour

Telephone in Selective Colour author: Mylkinut

Selective Color Stanley Steamer

Selective Color Stanley Steamer author: HuTDoG83

Alice

Alice author: chris_florio

Selective Color Bug

Selective Color Bug author: AirBrontosaurus

Experiment in Selective Color

Experiment in Selective Color author: syntheticpanda

Chondro Selective Color

Chondro Selective Color author: kondro86

One of the Pups

One of the Pups author: Ryryc181

Selective Colour Flowers

Selective Colour Flowers author: captureyou.co.nz

Surrounded by Roses

Surrounded by Roses author: shutter happy mama

Trapped in Mime Town

Trapped in Mime Town author: Bssnst06

Girl in Pink

Girl in Pink author: Allie Oop Photography

Selective Colour 2

Selective Colour 2 author: Victoria

Pride and Joy

Pride and Joy author: Nigel Allinson

The Game

The Game author: ThePatchwork

Tom

Tom author: szb78

My Belly with the Flower

My Belly with the Flower author: edflint

The Boat and The Castle

The Boat and The Castle author: doubleplusgood crimethink

Knight Rider

Knight Rider author: RJS pho·tog·ra·phy

The Boat Shed

The Boat Shed author: doubleplusgood crimethink

Fargo

Fargo author: phil404

Goodbye

Goodbye author: Ssukel

Another Flower?

Another Flower? author: k5683

The Bleeding Plant

The Bleeding Plant author: ReapRevenge

Beautiful Flower

Beautiful Flower author: loopyluv

Blue Bells

Blue Bells author: Draco

Just Take My Soul

Just Take My Soul author: emeraldiris

Broken Promise

Broken Promise author: NotforyousweetE

KJ Wedding XI

KJ Wedding XI author: YuriPanda

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28 Responses:

  1. Allen Sentance Fisherman says:

    Wow, these are a beautiful collection of photographs. And it appears to me , our photographic capabilities are only governed by our imaginations.
    Thank you Giulia for putting this magical collection together.

    Allen Sentance Fisherman

    ( 2 years and 4396 days ago )
  2. Barbara says:

    Well, Giulia, we run into each other again! This is a great post–lots of ideas for my artwork! Thanks!!

    ( 2 years and 4395 days ago )
  3. rebzombie says:

    good job giulia!

    ( 2 years and 4395 days ago )
  4. erikuri says:

    Wonderful post! What we don’t see in real life, we can see in photos… It’s a chance we have to pay attention in details we usually let aside in everyday-life!

    ( 2 years and 4395 days ago )
  5. FRed Derf says:

    awesome pics the kool

    ( 2 years and 4394 days ago )
  6. Giulia says:

    Thank you guys, I’m really glad you like it 🙂 Keep close and I’ll keep them coming 😉

    ( 2 years and 4394 days ago )
  7. ViNo says:

    Nice collection… Love’em all… 🙂

    ( 2 years and 4388 days ago )
  8. Ghemini says:

    love them they are so fixed and sharp

    ( 2 years and 4386 days ago )
  9. Mashkovtsev says:

    i like black and white photos, where the same element is color)))

    ( 2 years and 4361 days ago )
  10. David Hardwick Photography says:

    Nice collection of selective colour or spot colour photography. This effect can look tacky but these examples are great.

    ( 2 years and 4351 days ago )
  11. filmphotography says:

    You people are beating photography to death with technology, selective coloring is an insult to photography. Essentially what you’re saying about the photograph is “this is not good enough in black and white or color but if I use a combination of the two maybe this little girl in pink at a beach will now be photography,”. Thank you for further deteriorating the art of photography.

    ( 2 years and 4345 days ago )
  12. Katie says:

    I love love LOVE these. They are absolutely beautiful. You’ve taken photos that are beautiful and made them POP even more. I would like to learn how to do this. What software do I need?

    ( 2 years and 4342 days ago )
  13. Christoffer Wallstenius says:

    I absolutely agree with “filmphotography”, selective color like this is nothing, i say NOTHING, but tacky! it looks cheap, and it IS cheap! It’s a cheap trick to make an uninteresting picture appealing to those who don’t truly understand photography.

    The effect becomes more important than the composition and expression of the photograph. We have an expression for that in Swedish: “hötorgskonst”. “Art” that’s more or less “industrially” produced to be easy to sell. There’s no really thought from the “artist” about the composition or expression, as long as it looks good and sells.

    As a photographer, partially colored black and whites is a phase you go through in the early beginning of your photography, nowadays. Then you move on and realize that it does look kind of cheap, and that the effect gets the attention from the expression. If a picture isn’t good enough in full color or b/w, it sure as hell isn’t going to get any better by splatting some color over it!

    ( 2 years and 4341 days ago )
  14. Arup says:

    Damn! They r toooooo00oooooøooo beautiful

    ( 2 years and 4341 days ago )
  15. Jennifer Liu says:

    Thank you Guilia.
    I am a big fan of black and white. But with selective coloring, and really emphasize the meaning of the picture itself.
    Nice collections and thank you for sharing with us!
    Keep it coming.

    ( 2 years and 4341 days ago )
  16. vicky says:

    beautiful

    ( 2 years and 4341 days ago )
  17. Matti says:

    Some of the pictures were ok, but as a whole these are unimaginative, badly composed without an idea behind them. Selective color is rather a cheap trick than a usable technique.

    ( 2 years and 4341 days ago )
  18. Paul says:

    filmphotography & Christoffer Wallstenius couldn’t be any more wrong. You have an opinion and thats about it. You don’t like her expression of her Art and you go on as if she is Blaspheming the name of the Lord!!

    Next your going to say HDR Photography is crap and that nobody should do it. As a professional photographer There are pictures that I have done for people with the exact same affect.They look good and they love it.

    I look at these pictures and they look beautiful. They could pass in either Color or B&W but she choose to change the pics up. If there is anybody that is a Noob in Photography that would be you two. Adding different effects to the pics is an Art and this should be expressed. I doubt you two have any sort of Caliber of talent and lack the good taste of photography that is needed to produce amazing pictures.

    Christoffer I click on your web site and I see 3 over contrast garbage pics. You are the last person to bash or give any sort of comments at all. Unplug your internet and read a book or something.

    Keep creating and expressing your Art Giulia and never mind any fools who may be Jealous because they lack the creative eye that is needed nowadays.

    ( 2 years and 4340 days ago )
  19. Christoffer Wallstenius says:

    Paul:

    First of all, yes of course I’m expressing my opinion. What else could I do? Same goes for You, Paul anonymous. You have the guts to call my pictures “garbage pics” (one of them have won two prizes and is also featured in a few online galleries, so everyone doesn’t agree with You), but You lack the guts to be unanonymous and show your own fantastic art. My opinion about the three pictures of mine that you have seen means nothing to me, of course. Why would I care about what some anonymous dude on the net says? Give me a reason to take your words serious, show me your photos!

    So You call your self pro? Without any kind of evidence (i.e. You not being gutless and showing your amazing pictures), I take your words as if they come from a complete noob. Besides, being pro is i no way a guarantee for either good taste or good pictures. Being pro only means that you are good at marketing yourself. I know many extremely skilled photographers, way more skilled than I am (I’ve only been photographing for about 9 years), that have tried to go pro but failed. Not because their pictures look bad, because they certainly don’t, but because they lack the courage to demand what the pictures are work, and the skill to promote themselves.

    I do not call my self a pro, I do however get paid for photography from time to time. Again, obviously not everyone agree with your opinion about my skill as a photographer.

    As a pro, if you really are what you claim, you should really know that an effect should not be used for the sake of the effect. It should be used when it’s called for.

    About HDR: Yes, I dislike when _tone mapping_ is overused. There are _plenty_ of pictures out there that looks nothing but crap because of the extreme tone mapping effect, that would otherwise be really good pictures. But there are undoubtedly some that look really good. And that is when the effect really suits the subject, and when the tone mapping have been done with taste and carefulness by the photographer. Unfortunately, there’s a lot out there who just drag the sliders around a bit without really knowing, or caring for, what they are doing.

    Also, who are YOU to judge who gets to comment stuff on the internet or not? Do you have a god-complex, or what’s your issue? That kind of argumentation techniques (“Christoffer I click on your web site and I see 3 over contrast garbage pics. You are the last person to bash or give any sort of comments at all. Unplug your internet and read a book or something.”) are usually used when people run out of arguments, or simply by people who lack the intelligence needed to have a mature argument.

    Last but not least, I want to apologize to Giulia! I didn’t realize that I were commenting on your own pictures, I came to this post via StumbleUpon, and I thought it was another one of those blogs that just collect pictures from all over the internet. If I would have realized that is was your own work, I would not have been as harsh in my previous comment!

    I do however stand by my point, that I think that the effect of partially coloring pictures seldom add anything. Sometimes it really does add something, and it’s _then_ it should be used. By overusing effects (doesn’t matter what kind of effect really), the really outstanding pictures drown in all the others. The effect “grow old”, becomes passé.

    /Christoffer

    ( 2 years and 4339 days ago )
  20. Rory Jackson says:

    I think that selective colouring, like any easily accessible effect, is overused. However, that doesn’t mean it’s absolutely useless. I don’t think that photoshopping has killed photography anymore than Magic Bullet has killed the film industry. When you look at a photograph you can tell when someone has used selective colour as an integral part of the story they’re telling or if they’ve just put whacked it on to make a shitty photo look ‘arty’.

    After all, selective colour was good enough for Spielberg.

    ( 2 years and 4335 days ago )
  21. Brett Widmann says:

    These are beautiful photographs. Colorization can be such a powerful design mechanism.

    ( 2 years and 4158 days ago )
  22. Brett Widmann says:

    its amazing how coloring can be such a powerful element in design. Thanks for sharing these beautiful photographs.

    ( 2 years and 4158 days ago )
  23. jack kemsley says:

    i have chose to do selective colour in my A-level work and i i have used some of these as example of good work i write about these also because thay involve in my artist research

    ( 2 years and 4158 days ago )
  24. Louise (Venvierra) says:

    Wow I can’t believe one of my photos is among these fantastic images, thanks! It was my first attempt at selective colour. I have the original photo on flickr too – http://www.flickr.com/photos/venvierra/509481400/
    I am an amateur though I do have a couple of photos up on websites and had one in the local newspaper which I am still amazed at. I love things like selective colouring, find it more of an art form along with the likes of HDR and abit of fun to play around with to see what kind of look I can get with a photo. Majority of the time I don’t do that to a photo. Its just a matter of personal preference I think when it comes to this stuff

    ( 2 years and 4013 days ago )
  25. Gun golf says:

    Christoffer Wallstenius

    First off, would u like a cookie and a hug for letting us know you’ve won some award for your photos? Just bc you don’t like “selective coloring” doesn’t mean you can come in here and say what’s good or not. Who are you to say what’s good or not? Everyone has their own way of editing. Just bc you won some award for your photos doesn’t give you the right to judge what style or techniques you like or dislike. Start you’re own blog or website and voice your opinions there not here. I’m not a photographer but I love viewing all types of photography. There’s no one techniques I like or dislike over the others. Sorry if not everyone is as gifted as you are.

    I’m sure your photography skills are exceptional and your work is beautiful. I’m sure you’re a great photographer but when pros like you start voicing what’s techniques are in or out, that’s when I say you keep that opinion to yourself. Who cares if they want to color in a few spots on her BW’s. If you like it give some props , if you don’t keep your opinions to yourself and leave the site. Old, new or trendy photographic styles fit and suits certain people, if everyone like one type (traditional– what I shoot is what you see no editing or minor post processing) its kind of boring to see the same style over and over…wouldn’t you agree? Now a days with digital photography you as a pro should push your creativity to the brink for us viewers to see and be in awe. Personally I love the HDR styles but I also admire traditional ones too.

    ( 2 years and 3860 days ago )
  26. Joana says:

    Those photos are really amazing. I specially like the one of the nyc cabs … we are so used to the yellow that we dont even realize how good they look together….

    ( 2 years and 3847 days ago )
  27. pim says:

    People that like this don’t deserve any better 🙂

    ( 2 years and 3844 days ago )
  28. Toper's Photos | Kristoper says:

    i love the boat photo! reminds me of home

    ( 2 years and 3250 days ago )