A color splash photo is black and white everywhere except one thing: a red dress, a yellow umbrella, a bouquet, a pair of eyes. It pulls every look straight to the part you care about. Here is how to make a color splash effect online free, with no app and no account.
Make a color splash photo in four steps
- Open the free Color Splash tool and upload your photo.
- Pick a Selection Mode (see below).
- Adjust the tolerance, edge feathering and saturation, and watch the live preview.
- Download as PNG for the cleanest edges, or JPEG for a smaller file.
The four selection modes
- Color Match keeps one color. Tap a detected color chip, click on your photo to sample a shade, or pick one yourself. Best when the color is unique in the picture, like a red saree against a grey street.
- Manual Brush lets you paint color back in where you want it, and erase where you do not. Use it when the same color appears in places you want grey.
- Smart Portrait keeps faces and skin tones in color and turns the rest black and white.
- All Colors keeps every bright, vivid subject in color and greys out the dull background.
Settings that make it look clean
- Color Tolerance sets how close a shade must be to count. Start near the default of 30. Go lower if nearby colors sneak in, higher if parts of your subject turn grey.
- Edge Feathering softens the border between color and grey. A few pixels hides jagged edges without a glow.
- Color Saturation Boost makes the kept color stronger. Push it up a little for drama, but past about 150% skin and fabric can look unreal.
- Background B&W Strength at 100% is pure black and white. Lower it for a muted background that still has a hint of color.
- Invert Selection flips it: the chosen color goes grey and everything else stays in color.
Color splash ideas
- A bride or groom in red with the wedding crowd in black and white.
- Festival lights, rangoli or a single diya glowing in a grey scene.
- One bright umbrella on a rainy street.
- A bouquet or a gift in a couple photo.
- Your team's jersey color in a match day picture.
A photo tip
Color Match works best when your color appears in one place only. If the background has the same red as the dress, switch to Manual Brush and paint over the dress instead. For a plain black and white version with no color kept, use the black and white converter.
Like the dramatic look? Copy a free prompt from the Hollywood Glamour collection, or download Trendy AI Lab and make AI portraits in the app with a plan.
Coming soon