How to JPEG image black and white...

[megahertzman]

Wow, it's been over a yr since I logged in. Time flies.

So I took an image from my digital camera and I'm looking to make the background black and white, and the foreground which is a picture of myself to remain in color. Can someone help me?

I do not have Photoshop, only the standard applications that comes with Microsoft XP. Do I need a particular software to be able to manipulate images as such and similar mods....

[Croc Hunter]

We can't do much without the image. Post a link and we'll have a crack at it.

[Kat]

if your going to be doing lots of mods to pics it will pay you to get photoshop. I'm biased of course because I work in Photoshop and it is without peer. Still, heres a quick way to do this in PS , though for quality b/w I would seperate the bacgground and give it special treatment.
Quickie- Make a hue and saturation adjustment layer and play with the sliders to get rid of all colour. Select the mask by clicking it once and use the paintbrush with the colour set to black and paint back in the parts of the photo you want restored to colour.
Other programs probably have some similiar things, I dont know . I cant imagine being a digital photographer and not using photoshop. People may think its pricey but really, so are digital cameras and lets face it, your pictures are priceless.

Kate