Took this shot at the beach, playing around with the “color accent” feature in my new Canon SD700 IS camera. You can sample what color you want to highlight, and it then makes everything else in the shot black and white.
Sure, you could do this in Photoshop or something during post processing, but it’s kind of fun to be able to do it in the camera. Not super useful, or really useful at all, but still fun. 
Here’s a more subtle example - the color of the sand is the one being highlighted. I think the effect is kind of cool:
What do you think?
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OOOOO I want that! Your photos look awesome.
Thanks! I’m having more and more fun with photography. This little camera is awesome, and it’s making me want to break down and get a full blown digital SLR.
Man, my hobbies are too expensive!
yes! the color accent! i own a powershot a95 (great cam, but i want something BETTER!) … but im planning on getting a powershotS3IS which has the color accent and i cant wait for it. (but i have to.). i like the picture of the little kid and the yellow, and the sand picture also looks really nice. it gives the beach a real artistic feel, with the pinkish sand and everything black and white. ive tried the color accent before… and its real fun!
canon powershot make gooood cameras, its just that most the cameras will get lens erros (E18) and thats a pain in the ass. my old canon had that error and it was permanent… but it was okay, cuz then i got the a95 which was NEW at the time!
Just got the Canon SD700 and am having trouble with the color accent option. I was looking for some answers online and found your posting with your awesome photos. Any tips for me on what I might be doing wrong? Pics are either coming out very blurry or not black and white at all. Couldn’t get color swap to work correctly either. Hope someone can help! Otherwise I love the camera so far.
Is this in Brazil?
No, shot at Cannon Beach, Oregon, USA.
I love how you shot these pictures at “Cannon” Beach!! great photos.. i love this option on my husband’s camera too. We are HUGE canon fans.. He’s got the SD700 and I’ve got the A520.. but I am *so* ready for an upgrade!! i
how do you choose the color that you want to enhance?
You put the camera in color accent mode, and there’s on onscreen legend that tells you to point a little cursor at the color you want to select, then hit Menu (I think). It’s all very self explanitory when you’re using it on the camera.
Cool, is it in the Canon Powershot SD750. i want to get that but I really want color accent and color swap in it.
yes those features are on the sd750 as well!
is there a cheaper canon camera that has this feature maybe like in the $150 dollar range?
@Natalie anything newer than about the SD700 IS (couple of years old now) should have this feature, and the PowerShot line is dropping in price all the time. With a little deal digging, maybe looking on Craigslist, you shouldn’t have a hard time finding a Canon camera that has this feature for under $150. Good luck!
I have the sd870, and when I use color swap, I can only use shades of brown and black. How can I get red, yellow, green, etc?
@Jessica - you’ll have to read about the feature in your manual for the definitive answer, but when I use this feature on my SD700, what you have to do is put it in color accent mode (color swap is something different!), and then point the little selector on the screen at the color you want to “accent”, then push the appropriate button on the camera. Then, take the shot as normal, and it will have only that color “accented”, and everything else will be black and white.
It’s kind of complicated, and takes some fiddling around, but you should be able to figure it out. Good luck, and have fun!
i have the S3 IS and i cannot figure out how to use the color accent feature so far ;
i dont even know where to begin so anything would help.
thank you.
You can download the “advanced user guide” for the S3 IS here:
http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ModelInfoAct&tabact=SupportDetailTabAct&fcategoryid=223&modelid=13077#DownloadDetailAct
I bet instructions on how to use Color Accent are in there.
Hello. I finally found what I was looking for. So I was wondering, does the new Canon EOS 450D have color accent or is it only on smaller cameras?
I’m pretty sure none of the Canon digital SLR cameras (the Digital Rebels) have this feature. At least, I’ve never seen it advertised, or seen it on one of them.