Color Splash: Keep One Color, Turn the Rest Black and White
Color Splash is a selective color tool that keeps the colors you pick in a photo while turning everything else to black and white. Click a color to make it pop against a grayscale background, and use brushes for the spots automatic matching misses. It is built for anyone who wants a fast color pop effect — no Photoshop, no sign-up.
Highlight a red rose in a gray garden, make a blue car stand out on a faded street, or keep several colors at once for a creative composition. Matching runs in HSL color space, so similar shades of your chosen color come along naturally instead of leaving harsh, RGB-style gaps.
How to Make a Photo Black and White Except One Color
Upload your image
Drop an image onto the upload area, click to browse your files, or press Ctrl+V to paste from your clipboard. JPEG, PNG, WebP, GIF, and BMP are all supported.
Pick colors to keep
With the Pick color tool active by default, click any part of the image to keep that color. The rest turns grayscale at once. Click again to keep more colors — each one is listed under Colors to keep, where you can remove it later.
Fine-tune the effect
Raise Tolerance to include more shades close to your picked color, or lower it for a tighter selection. Increase Edge softness to blend the color-to-grayscale border instead of leaving a hard edge.
Refine with the brushes
Switch to Brush: restore color to paint original color back into grayscale areas, or Brush: force grayscale to remove color the tolerance kept by mistake. Adjust the brush size to match broad strokes or fine detail.
Download
Pick an output format — PNG, JPEG, or WebP — set the quality for JPEG or WebP, and click Download to save the finished image.
Features
Eyedropper Color Picking
Click anywhere on the image to keep that color while the rest goes grayscale — no precise selections to draw.
Multi-Color Selection
Keep as many colors as you like at once. Each appears in the Colors to keep list, where you can review and remove them individually.
HSL Color Matching
Matching works in HSL color space, the way people perceive color, so related shades and tones come along for natural-looking results.
Tolerance Control
A tolerance slider sets how close a pixel must be to your color to stay — tight for one exact hue, loose for a whole range.
Smooth Edge Softness
Soften the border between colored and grayscale regions for a gradual blend instead of a hard, cut-out edge.
Restore & Grayscale Brushes
Paint original color back into any area, or force unwanted color to black and white, with an adjustable brush size.
Hold-to-Compare
Press and hold the compare button to see the untouched original, then release to return to your effect.
Undo History
Step back up to 30 actions with Ctrl+Z (Cmd+Z on Mac), or use Reset to clear the effect and start over.
Flexible Export
Save as lossless PNG, or as JPEG or WebP with a quality slider to balance file size against detail.
Drag, Browse, or Paste
Load images by dragging and dropping, clicking to browse, or pasting straight from the clipboard with Ctrl+V.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the color splash effect?
Color splash — also called selective color or color pop — is a photo technique where one or more chosen colors stay in the image while every other color turns to black and white. It is a popular way to draw the eye to a single subject or detail in a photograph.
How do I make a photo black and white except one color?
Upload your image, then click the color you want to keep with the Pick color tool. That color stays while the rest becomes grayscale instantly. Click more spots to keep several colors, then adjust the tolerance until the selection looks right.
Can I keep more than one color?
Yes. Click as many colors as you need, and they all stay visible while everything else turns grayscale. Each color you keep is shown in the Colors to keep panel, where you can remove any one without losing the others.
What do the tolerance and edge softness sliders do?
Tolerance controls how closely a pixel must match your picked color to stay colored — low keeps only very similar shades, high keeps a wider range. Edge softness controls the border: at zero it is a sharp edge, and raising it blends the colored and grayscale areas for a smoother, more natural transition.
How do I restore or remove a color with the brush?
Use the brushes when automatic matching is not exact enough. Switch to Brush: restore color and paint over a grayscale area to bring its original color back, or Brush: force grayscale to paint away color the tolerance kept by mistake. The brush size slider lets you work broad areas or fine detail.
Can I undo my changes?
Yes. Press Ctrl+Z (or Cmd+Z on Mac) to undo your last action, with up to 30 steps of history. The Reset button clears the whole effect so you can start fresh from the original image.
Which formats are supported, and is there a size limit?
You can upload JPEG, PNG, WebP, GIF, and BMP images, and export as PNG, JPEG, or WebP. Because everything runs in your browser there is no upload size limit, though very large images may take a little longer to process depending on your device.
Does it keep my image quality and run in the browser?
Yes. Editing happens at full resolution right in your browser, with no upload step. Export to PNG for a lossless copy, or choose JPEG or WebP and set the quality slider to control how much detail you trade for a smaller file.
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