Keep one colour and turn the rest black and white
Pick a colour and everything else goes grey, like the classic red-dress photo.
Drop an image here, or .
Free, no sign-up. Runs in your browser; nothing is uploaded.
Color Splash Effect: how to use it
- Drop in a photo.
- Choose the Colour to keep, and widen the Colour range until all of it shows.
- Set how Everything else looks (black and white, sepia or faded), soften the edge, then download.
Tips
- Raise Ignore greyish areas below if pale background areas keep some colour.
- Tick Reverse to grey out only the chosen colour instead.
Color Splash Effect: what it does and when to use it
Colour splash, or selective colour, keeps one colour in the photo and turns everything else grey. The tool compares each pixel's hue with the colour you pick; pixels within the range keep their colour, and the rest become black and white, sepia or faded. It is the effect behind the famous red coat or red dress shots.
Widen the colour range until the whole object shows, including its shadows and highlights, then soften the edge so the change from colour to grey is gradual rather than cut. Subjects with a colour that appears nowhere else in the scene work best: a red umbrella on a grey street, yellow flowers in a green field.
Because it works by colour rather than by object, anything else of the same colour also stays: skin tones, for instance, sit close to reds and oranges. To keep one object regardless of colour, cut it out with the Background Remover, or use the Selection Tools to choose an area by hand.
Color Splash Effect: frequently asked questions
Is the Color Splash Effect free, and do I need to sign up?
Yes, the Color Splash Effect is 100% free with no sign-up, no login and no account. The Color Splash Effect runs in your browser, so it has no daily limit and no upload, and saves at full size with no watermark. See why it is free.
How do I keep only the red in a photo?
Set Colour to keep to the red you want and everything else turns black and white. Widen Colour range if parts of the red object also turn grey, narrow it if other things stay in colour, and use Soft edge to blend the change instead of a hard cut. Related guide: JPG vs PNG vs WebP vs AVIF: which should you use?.
Why do skin tones sometimes stay in colour?
Skin sits close to red and orange in hue, so a wide range around red catches it. Narrow the range, or raise Ignore greyish areas so only strongly coloured pixels are kept. The tool matches colour by hue, not by position, so it cannot tell a red dress from a red face by itself. Related tool: Aesthetic Filters.
Can I do it the other way round?
Yes. Tick Reverse and the chosen colour goes grey while the rest of the photo keeps its colour. The background can also be sepia or faded colour instead of plain black and white.
Is this free color splash app available online?
Yes, it runs in any browser on a phone or computer with no app to install and no watermark. Find the exact colour to keep with the Colour Picker.