• Global community
    • Language:
      • Deutsch
      • English
      • Español
      • Français
      • Português
  • 日本語コミュニティ
    Dedicated community for Japanese speakers
  • 한국 커뮤니티
    Dedicated community for Korean speakers
Exit
9

Quickly convert a photo to black and white using Photoshop

Adobe Employee ,
Aug 20, 2020 Aug 20, 2020

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

 

Blues - Header Quick Tips.jpg

Turn a color photo into black and white

 

One quick and easy, non-destructive method for converting a color photo to black and white in Photoshop is to use a Black and White Adjustment Layer. Then, if you want to customize the look of your image, you can use a preset or adjust tones for each color with the sliders to create a variety of looks.

 

 

Pattie-F_0-1597905923174.png

 

 

Related links:

Convert a color image to black and white

Adjusting color and tone in Photoshop

Adjustment and fill layers in Photoshop

Learn about adjustment layers

 

There are, of course, many different ways to accomplish the task of converting from a color image to black and white. If you are new at this, you can start by trying the method above. Are you feeling adventurous? Try it in several different Adobe apps. Share your preferred method or your favorite black and white photo in the comments section below.

 

Learn how to convert a photo to black and white using other Adobe apps:

Quickly convert a photo to black and white using Photoshop on the iPad

Quickly convert a photo to black and white using Lightroom for mobile

Quickly convert a photo to black and white using Lightroom Classic

Quickly convert a photo to black and white using Lightroom

TOPICS
macOS , Windows

Views

20.4K

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Adobe
Community Expert ,
Aug 22, 2020 Aug 22, 2020

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Gradient Map 

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Enthusiast ,
Aug 23, 2020 Aug 23, 2020

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

I prefer using calculations.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Expert ,
Aug 26, 2020 Aug 26, 2020

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

I guess we all had our preferred methods of coverting colour images to black and white, but when the B&W Adjustment layer was introduced (was it CS4?) it was a total game changer.  OK, a lot of people swear by Silver Efex Pro, but you can still get that high contrast effect SE Pro just using what comes with Photoshop, and without needing a lot of work.  Why make life complicated?

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
New Here ,
Aug 29, 2020 Aug 29, 2020

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

I used photoshop to design my website logo and banners. 

 

I prefer it to other softwares

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Explorer ,
Sep 01, 2020 Sep 01, 2020

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Users can automatically colorize black & white images with Adobe Photoshop Elements 2020.  How come this feature is in the sawn off app and not in the top level expensive subscription version of the app?????

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Beginner ,
Sep 02, 2020 Sep 02, 2020

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Thanks for the post! 

 

 

Lots of love

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Adobe Employee ,
Sep 17, 2020 Sep 17, 2020

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

You are very welcome!

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Expert ,
Sep 11, 2020 Sep 11, 2020

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

I'm a fan of converting to a Smart Object and then applying the Camera Raw Filter.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
New Here ,
Sep 22, 2020 Sep 22, 2020

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Hi! Nice. someone knows in what format I can save the images for my website. I need them to weigh less. My website
[link removed by moderator]

Thank you

Soy un diseñador web, que le encanta la literatura.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Expert ,
Sep 25, 2020 Sep 25, 2020

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

In general saving your images in jpg format will give the smallest file size.

Jpg is a lossy format so it's a trade off between that size and the quality of the image.

Alternatively, make the images smaller and / or let a click on these pop up a larger image.

All of the above can be combined to improve page load speeds

 

For further reading, please take a look at:

Saving smallest JPG possible with Photoshop

 

 

Best regards, Euan.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Beginner ,
May 01, 2021 May 01, 2021

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Thanks for the clearance I will do that.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
New Here ,
Mar 28, 2022 Mar 28, 2022

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

LATEST

Hi everyone,

I am trying to convert my image to black and white and I am unable to select the black and white option no matter what I do.  How do I get it to appear without being grayed out? Thanks

 

 

 

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
New Here ,
Oct 12, 2020 Oct 12, 2020

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Thank you for the post 😀

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines