How to make a photo black and white in Photoshop. How to turn a color photo into black and white
It turns out that many users on the network are interested in information how to make a photo black and white in photoshop. Why black and white?
Well, first of all, with the help black and white photographs you can get an interesting artistic effect, secondly, despite the fact that humanity has learned to take not just color photos, but even digital ones, the retro style does not lose its popularity.
I will turn this color photo into black and white:
Method number 1. The easiest way to make a photo black and white in Photoshop.
2. From the top menu, select “Image” => “Correction” => “Black and white...”. Or use the “Black and White...” menu to quickly open it (Alt+Shift+Ctrl+B):
Enlarge the image?
3. A window will appear where you can use the sliders to arrange more suitable look photos. Although by default, everything is configured there enough to beautifully display the photo in black and white. Click on the “OK” button:
Method No. 2. An easy way to do it black and white photo in photoshop.
1. Open Photoshop with a photo.
2. From the top menu, select “Image” => “Adjustments” => “Desaturate”. Or use hotkeys to quickly open the “Desaturate” menu (Shift+Ctrl+U):
Enlarge the image?
This is the final result:
Method number 3. Combined.
Perhaps the name is quite appropriate, but its essence is that we do not change all elements of the photo to black and white.
For example, a girl is standing with a rose. You can make the entire photo black and white, and leave the rosebud red. I think you get the idea. Let me show you how this can be implemented.
1. Open Photoshop with a photo.
2. Select a quick mask:
3. Select a brush and paint over the element you want to make black and white. I'll sketch the background.
4. Now squeeze out the quick mask. What you sketched should be highlighted with dotted lines:
If what stands out is not what you wanted, you can do an inversion. Click on menu “Select” => “Invert” or a combination of buttons on the keyboard Shift+Ctrl+I:
5. Now that everything has been selected correctly, let's make the selected pieces black and white.
From the menu above, select “Image” => “Adjustments” => “Desaturate”. Or use hotkeys to quickly open the “Desaturate” menu - (Shift+Ctrl+U).
Here's what happened:
Black and white photography is the most concise and simple way to show the soul of high-quality photography. Therefore, in this I will tell you how to get a black and white image from a color photograph. Of course, you can quickly decolorize a photo or drawing using Ctrl+Shift+U:
At first glance, a decolorized photo will look even better than a black and white one. But if you just need a b/w photo, and not a photo without colors, simple decolorization is not enough.
How to correctly obtain a b/w photo from a full-color photo:
1. First, let's launch Photoshop and open the image that we will edit:
2. Choose Create new fill or adjustment layer and in the menu that appears, click on Hue/Saturation. In this layer we will have the opportunity to adjust the saturation and shades of various colors. In the field Edit You can select shades separately for each color. But if you are new to Photoshop, I recommend choosing the mode Master and edit all colors at once.
3. We repeat the steps from the previous paragraph, but in the menu that appears, select the item Selective Color. Here you can choose the desired shade for your future black and white photo.
4. Next, we create another adjustment layer, which will actually convert our image into a black and white photograph. Therefore, in the layers menu, select the item Gradient Map. There is no need to change anything here.
5. And finally, create another layer Curves, which will give the final look to our photo. For this layer, select the blending mode( Blending Mode) Soft Light. Here we select the shade we need. As a result, we should have four layers plus a background layer.
Let's compare ours black and white photo, obtained by the method described above, with a bleached photograph. As you can see, the difference is quite significant. Therefore, although this method requires a little more time, it is fully justified, since adding original, high-quality illustrations to articles on your website makes it easier to promote on the Internet not only new projects, but also large portals with a solid history and impressive traffic. Don’t be lazy to work on the quality of content, incl. graphic!
If you want to dramatically change a photo with just one simple step, then nothing beats converting it to black and white. By converting to grayscale, you can also save an image that cannot be helped by color correction, or make more beautiful than a man, who needs to seriously whiten his teeth or take care of his own skin. These problems almost disappear when you enter the black and white kingdom.
But does this mean that it is necessary to install digital camera black and white shooting mode? No, no and no again! It is much better to shoot in color and then desaturate the images in Photoshop. In this case you get huge amount possible creative solutions, for example, the effect of partial discoloration, achieved by discoloring not the entire picture. And while I'm on the topic of color, Photoshop has several tools that let you change the color of everything from your car to the hair on your head. In addition, you can give new life old photographs, adding color to them.
You've probably heard the expression “How we get paid is how we work!” In Photoshop, this expression is converted to "Most quick way- not always the best". In other words, for some techniques - these include converting a color image to black and white- you will have to spend a little extra time, but the result is worth it.
Let me explain with an example. Open a color image. I'll take Daska's photo.
Select the menu command Image => Correction => Desaturate (Image => Adjustments => Desaturate).
Desaturation means removing all colors from an image.
Photoshop has no problem converting an image to black and white, but the result is unlikely to inspire you.
2. Create a “Black and White” adjustment layer.
Open the palette Correction, selecting the menu item Window => Correction (Window => Adjustments), and click on the Black & White layer icon (looks like a rectangle, diagonally divided into black and white halves).
Photoshop will turn the image black and white and display several sliders and other controls in the palette that you can use to fine tuning created layer.
3. Move the sliders until you get a high-contrast black and white image.
Although the program has desaturated the image, there is still room for improvement. Move the different color sliders to make the items in your image look even better. Moving to the right colors areas that were previously colored with the slider's color a lighter shade of gray; moving to the left colors areas a darker shade of gray.
There's also a ton of preset settings in the drop-down list at the top of the palette—select items from the list one at a time to see how they affect your photo. If you click the Auto button, Photoshop will show you what it thinks your grayscale image should look like.
4. Save your photo in PSD format if you want to edit it later.
Lightning touch up
You probably already noticed the Tint checkbox at the top of the Adjustments palette when you created the Black and White adjustment layer. If you check this box, the program will add a brown tint (called a sepia tone) to the entire image. If you want to use a different color, click on the colored square to the right of the checkbox to open the color selection dialog box. This technique allows you to create so-called false two-tone images.
Channel Mixer adjustment layers
Using Black and White adjustment layers is the fastest and easiest way to desaturate images, but layers can also be used for this purpose. They have no advantages over adjustment layers.
First, make sure the Background layer (or the image layer you want to work with) is selected in the Layers palette, then click the half-black, half-white circle button at the bottom of the palette and select team Channel Mixer. When the Adjustments palette opens, select the checkbox Monochrome at the top of the palette, and then move the sliders Red, Green and Blue, as you like, or choose one of the presets from the drop-down list at the top of the palette.
If you want to darken or lighten the entire image, move the Constant slider at the bottom of the palette left or right.
Channel "Brightness"
As noted in the article about, Lab mode got its name from the names of three channels. The letter "L" stands for the Lightness channel, where the program stores all the light values and thus all the visible edges and details of the image. (The letters “A” and “B” stand for channels a and b, which store color information.) This means that the Brightness channel, taken separately from the rest, is a black-and-white version of the image.
To see what the channel looks like, open the image and select Image => Mode => Lab from the menu. In the Channels palette, highlight Brightness. If you like the resulting image, select Image => Mode => Grayscale from the menu and click OK when Photoshop asks for permission to remove the color information.
In my case it turned out too bright and pale. This option is not suitable, but you need to know about it. It will look different in different photographs.
Converting to Grayscale in the Camera Raw Plug-in
If you take pictures in Raw, then you can also use an external module to convert them to grayscale. This module is easy to use and also performs conversions well. To open an image in this format, double-click its file icon and it will automatically open in Camera Raw.
1. In the Camera Raw window, open the HSL/Grayscale panel.
To open this panel, click on the button of the same name. Then in this panel, check the box Convert to Grayscale. A group of sliders appears on the right side of the Camera Raw window. To add contrast to an image, you can lighten a color by moving its slider to the right, or darken it by moving the slider to the left.
2. Open the Basic panel and move the Exposure slider to adjust the black and white image. Also move the sliders with various other settings in this tab and you will be pleasantly surprised at how your black and white photo will sparkle!
Even dandelions began to look like dandelions!
If you notice an error in the text, select it and press Ctrl + Enter. Thank you!
There are many ways to convert a color image to black and white in Photoshop.
Now we will show you the 4 most popular methods.
Open your photo in Photoshop.
Let's start by introducing you to the two easiest ways to convert an image to black and white.
1 - function Grayscale(Grayscale)
2 - function Discolor(Desaturation)
We don't argue, these are the most simple ways, but the quality is not the best. Here the contrast is very low, the image is slightly cloudy.
Let's show with an example:
1. Grayscale
Image - Mode - Grayscale(Image - Mode - Grayscale)
Very simple, right?
2. Discolor
Image - Correction - Desaturate(Image - Adjustments - Desaturate)
Fast and easy - but the image contrast is very low, the image looks dull and flat. This is not at all what we are striving for. What we especially like about high quality b&w Photography is all about depth and high contrast. Okay - it's time to introduce you to more serious methods!
3. Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer
The method we are going to tell you about is to use several adjustment layers. Hue/Saturation. This means that you can return to its original appearance at any time. Plus, you are NOT changing the original image. Now go to the menu Layers - New Adjustment Layer - Hue/Saturation(Layers - New Adjustment layer - Hue/Saturation).
Leave all layer properties unchanged. Change the layer blending mode to Regular(Normal) on Chroma(Color).
Then add another adjustment layer Hue/Saturation(Hue/Saturation) - but this time in the layer properties, move the slider Saturation(Saturation) to -100.
So, get ready... This is what the image looks like now:
Now the fun begins! Double click on the first adjustment layer you made, or just open the properties. And now the slider Color tone(Hue) move to this position until you are satisfied with the resulting effect. You can also work with Saturation ( Saturation ) .
These are the settings we used to get the image you see below. Now it looks much better, although it still seems like something is missing...
Now change the blending mode of this newly created layer to Chroma(Color) on Overlap(Overlay), and reduce it a little Opacity(Opacity), in our case up to 65%.
This is what happened now. Contrast has increased noticeably. No detail is lost, adding depth to the image.
Please note that each image requires an individual approach. What suits this image may not suit yours. So don't be afraid to experiment with settings, layers and modes yourself :)
4. Channel mixing
The last technique you'll learn about in this tutorial is using an adjustment layer. Mixingchannels(Channel Mixer). With the original image active, go to the menu Layers - New Adjustment Layer - Channel Mixing(Layers - New Adjustment Layer - Channel mixer).
When this window appears, check the box next to the function Monochrome(Monochrome).
Now select the shades of black and white simply by moving the sliders that correspond to the red, green, and blue colors of the image. Important: Try to keep the total number of values around 100 to avoid blurry areas in your image. We set the red and green channels to 0 and the blue to 100. This gives the skin intense black and white tones.
Final step: duplicate the adjustment layer. Then change the blending mode from Regular(Normal) on Overlap(Overlay) and reduce Opacity(Opacity), for example, for this image it turned out to be 44% - but often it is necessary to lower it to 20-30%. Look, below is the result of our labors.
It turned out to be a very atmospheric image. We are waiting for your impressions. We hope this article gave you a lot of useful information.
See you in the new lesson!
I was recently asked about the process of converting an image to black and white, specifically how you can tell if an image is suitable for it. So in this article I am going to talk about how to properly convert an image to black and white and how to do it in Photoshop without losing quality.
When is it better to convert an image to black and white?
There are three ideas that come to mind when I'm trying to evaluate whether I should convert my image to black and white (hereafter abbreviated as BW):
- First of all, this is a little obvious, but what kind of result do you want? Did your client specifically ask to take a B&W photo? Are you participating in a photo competition in the B&W category? You're doing a series for a B&W gallery (because actually it doesn't look very good when you only have one or two B&W photos among the color ones, you want to have good combination?) Like I said, it's pretty obvious that you need to consider the end result, but it's worth saying again.
- Secondly, you need to consider the value of dynamic range. In photography, the term “range value” refers to the ratio of dark and light areas of an image. So when I say evaluate the range of an image, I'm talking about whether you have deep blacks and bright whites in the photo. What's your dynamic range? For the most part, "flat" images don't look very good in black and white. Traditional B&W have good contrast and fairly spread values throughout the histogram. So, if your image has these components, then it may be a good choice for converting to B&W.
- I'll write an article on color theory and color relationships at some point, but if you have weird color combinations that don't look good together, that photo might be a good candidate for converting to B&W. Let's face it, some colors don't go well with others. B&W can be a great way to avoid inconsistency and get a great photo.
Just a tip: if you squint your eyes while looking at the image, you will see fewer flowers and a more extended range. This can help give you an idea of whether your image actually has the appropriate dynamic range.
How to convert a color image to black and white
Okay, let's now talk about how to convert an image to B&W, because there are two ways: the right way and the wrong way. You can certainly get the same result, but if you do it wrong, you will actually lose quality (technically, you are sacrificing bytes of information). In this article I will talk about using Adobe Photoshop. There are other conversion programs you can buy, but in terms of practicality, why pay extra when you can do it very easily in Photoshop.
Step 1
If you find an image that you want to convert to B&W, the first step is to open the image in Photoshop. In my example, I'm using one of my wedding photos, which you can view on my website. It was taken during the first dance and I just really love this photo in B&W.
Step 2
Don't do this!
In short, you are actually changing the color profile, which means you are losing pixel information in the colors. But you don't want that, you want to preserve as much information in the image as possible.
What you want to do is done using the black and white settings. You can access them either from the top menu Image > Mode > Black and White(Image > Adjustments > Black&White) or in the sidebar on the right, click on the settings button (as shown in the picture), and then click on the Black & White icon, which is indicated by a black rectangle divided into black and white diagonally.
Step 3
Once you click this icon, you will see the value settings for each color (see picture). Note that Photoshop has preserved all the color information in the image, it just displays it as B&W, but all your color information is preserved.
It also gives you more control over how you change the B&W, as you can adjust it on a color-by-color basis. But keep in mind that you shouldn't go beyond acceptable values colors too far apart or you'll start to see bumps and jagged stripes in gradient areas like the sky. You'll see this immediately when viewing the image if you start moving the sliders too much, so you'll immediately see what I'm talking about.
Step 4
After that, you can use other adjustment layers (which act like smart layers, if you understand what that means, and which is very good decision) to adjust the image the way you need: exposure, contrast, levels, curves, filters, etc.
Step 5
Once you've made all the editing steps you thought necessary, hopefully you've ended up with an image that you're happy with as a result. Now all you have to do is save it according to your needs and depending on the desired result.
David Wahlman - wedding and portrait photographer from Redding, California. He works around California and strives to expand the geography of his filming. You can watch it best works over www.wahlmanphotography.com and follow his posts at
