In this week’s free Deke’s Techniques episode, Deke shows you how to convert part of your image to black & white, whilst leaving the remaining part distinctively colored. Like this: 

The effect is achieved reasonably quickly and efficiently thanks to the fabulous Color Range command, which allows you to make selections based on color (or, naturally, a range of color). During the course of the video, Deke claims that you can use this approach for your non-cherry-based photographs. To test this hypothesis, I applied Deke’s method to something as un-cherry-like as I could find—-a Brussels sprouts image by Brent Hofacker from Fotolia.com. According to the photographer, they’re organic. 

The verdict? I’m happy to report that the technique works for vegetables as well. One caveat, the masking wasn’t quite as quick and easy as it was for Deke’s cherries. The sprouts were in a brownish bowl sitting on a beige-ish background. The Brussels sprouts were less exclusively green compared to the cherries’ unabashed redness. So, I ended up having to make my Color Range selection a little rougher—-avoiding anything too yellow, so as not to include the background, then hand-masking the brownish-yellower bits of the sprouts with the standard Brush tool. Still, a relatively easy effect with satisfying (and nutritious) results:

If you’d like to try this technique on an image of your own, but you don’t have any produce handy, you can get 25 free images by going to fotolia.com/deke and signing up. Remember, life is a bowl of Brussels sprouts!