How can I make a photo black & white, while keeping some things color?

Question

I've seen pics where everything is blck & white, except 4 the eyes, pool, and/or flowers.
How can I do this WITHOUT photoshop, but w/ :
1. Paint
2. Paint shop pro 8
3. Google Picasa & Picasa 2
4. Microsoft Office Picture Manager
5. Picture It! 7.0
?????
If none of the work, what can I use THAT"S FREE?

PLEASE, use details
thank you :))

Answer 1

Using Corel PhotoPaint, you would create a mask over the area you want to keep in color: outline it with outline tool (I think it's a pair of scissors), then click on "Mask" on the toolbar and reverse the mask so that the rest of the picture is masked and the object is not. Next click on Image on the toolbar, select Color Mode and choose Grayscale, OK.
If this doesn't work, Cut out the masked area, then change the whole picture to grayscale, then paste the colored part back in.
It's a while since I did this, but if you want to know more, e-mail me and I will run through it for you.

Answer 2

IrfanView is free and will manipulate color, but will only do so over the whole picture.

Masking is a tricky business so free software usually will not do that
The same is true with layering.

I am told Gimp has some of these things but have not tried them

Corel Paint is pretty cheap and very powerful, If you are planning to do more than a few hobby type things, it would be silly not to invest in that kind of power

Answer 3

Well, Photoshop is the easy way, but...

In Picassa you take a color photo, and under effects use Focal B & W which will let you choose one area to leave colored, while the rest goes to BW.

The old fasioned way to do it, however (which is probably the way it was done in most of the pictures you've seen) is to take a BW photo and only color in specific parts by hand.

Answer 4

The program I use is no longer available since the business has been bought out. If it's just one picture you want you can go to http://www.myspace.com/photoenhance some of the pictures I've done are on there (in the blog). But if you're wanting to be able to do it yourself the best I can say is get some good photo editing software like Photoshop.

Answer 5

ive never done it with picture manager. But i have photoshop where theres is a tool to drain out colour using an airbrush like tool. If you get access to Photoshop all you do is drain out colour from selected areas and keep the other parts colour

Answer 6

Gadfly's answer also works for Paint Shop Pro (I use 7.0).