How to make a photo black and white in Photoshop. How to make any color picture black and white in Photoshop

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 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 our black and white photo obtained using the method described above with a decolorized photo. 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!

We are already accustomed to seeing all photos in bright colors. Modern technology allows you to save as a memory colorful picture life. But sometimes it is a monochrome photo that creates the necessary ambience and conveys the atmosphere of feelings. In color photographs, brightness sometimes distracts attention from the important subject of the photo. The black and white version in some cases helps to make objects more expressive and attractive. Some fans are wondering how to make a picture black and white in Photoshop, how to decolorize it.

One of the ways to artistically process a photo is to make it monochrome

Adobe Photoshop allows you to change color photo, making it black and white, in several ways. With either method, you need to first create a copy of the Background layer. Then choose the option of how to make a black and white photo in Photoshop that is convenient for you.

1. Grayscale

With the image open in Adobe Photoshop, go to the Image section. There, click on Mode and select Grayscale from the list that appears. The image became black and white.

A very fast, easy way, but the quality will be low, the contrast is low.

2. Discoloration

You can use another simple technique in Photoshop. It is also quick and easy. In the same Image section, a little lower is the Adjustments function; select Desaturate from the list. You can perform this operation using the key combination Shift+Ctrl+U.

The image will be of low quality, with low contrast, flat, somewhat dull, but the main task - to make the picture black and white - will be completed.

3. Channel mixing

The methods described above are easy to implement, but still, a black and white image primarily attracts us with its contrast high level, depth. How to make a black and white image in Photoshop so that it is of high quality? It’s not enough to simply desaturate; you need to use several color saturation adjustment layers. This option does not change the original image. Follow this algorithm:

• Open the Channels tab in Photoshop, located next to the Layers tab. Click on different channels in turn (red, blue, green), you will see the difference in the resulting images. The photo has become black and white, the saturation of a certain color you have chosen changes. You will see on which channel the image is blurred and contrast is lost;
• Open the Channel Mixer tool in Photoshop by following the path Image - Check the box in the Monochrome window to get a monochrome image. Move the sliders to select the desired color saturation. General value leave it at 100% if you don’t want to change the lightness of the photo, or 110% for a lighter image;
• You can generally darken or lighten the image using the Contrast setting;
• Apply the selected settings by clicking OK.

So, you managed to create a deeper, richer image than when working with automatic conversion of color to black and white photos.

4. Using channels

You will get a high-quality photo with the following processing:

• Open the picture;
• Duplicate the layer by pressing Ctrl+J;
• In the Layers tab, change Normal Soft Light to soft light mode;
• Merge the layer with the bottom one, using the combination Ctrl+E;
• On the left toolbar, click on the small black and white squares next to the color settings (Default Foreground and Background Colors) or just press D;
• Create a gradient map;
• Follow the path Image - Adjustments - Gradient Map. Click OK;
• Go to the Channels tab. Select the Red channel there;
• In the menu, select everything (Select - All) or with the Ctrl + A keys;
• Copy the selection using the hot keys Ctrl+C;
• Select the RGB channel and paste into it what you copied from the red channel using Ctrl+V;
• Return to the Layers tab. Set the new layer to Soft Light mode and set the Opacity to 50%;
• Merge the layers using Ctrl+E.

It takes longer to edit a photo this way, but the quality and saturation are much better.

Leave part of the image in color in the black and white photo

The easiest way is to use an archive brush. You need to desaturate the photo using any of the above methods, usually using Shift+Ctrl+U. Then take the History Brush Tool (Historical Brush) or press Y, set the transparency, size - and return the color to the desired details. You can make any details colored; they will stand out brightly against the monochrome background of the image base.

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, firstly, with the help of black and white photographs you can get an interesting artistic effect, and 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 number 2. A simple way to make a 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:

The question of converting a color photograph to black and white is perhaps the most popular. There are a huge number of these methods. Before I started writing this article, I surfed the Internet and found some good reviews. Unfortunately, the best of them are either outdated or poorly structured. What does it mean? This means that all methods for converting to black and white are thrown into one pile by type, choose any, all are good. But this is far from true. Not all of them are good; some of the methods are tailored for specific tasks, which is not taken into account by the authors of the articles.

Color adjustment layers in Photoshop

I would like this article to be as simple as possible, and at the same time as informative as possible. Therefore, I deliberately decided not to involve color grading layers in this article. Let me just say briefly that color correction layers can be created from Layers > New Adjustments Layers or from the panel Windows > Adjustments They represent color correction in the form of a layer and almost completely duplicate the old color corrections we are used to, which are in Image > Adjustments After creation, such a layer is located in the layers panel Layers. This means that it can be controlled in the same way as a regular layer. Apply a mask to it, disable it, apply layer overlay options to it. The most important thing is that the color correction layer is not applied to the photo itself. The original source photo remains safe and sound under the accumulation of your color correction layers. And this is their main advantage. If I wanted to create a black and white photo using color correction layers, here is the easiest way.

Layers > New Ajustiments Layers > Blak and Whites. Click OK. And this is how we create a black and white photo using color correction layers.

The easiest way to create a black and white photo in Photoshop

Perhaps the easiest way to create a black and white photograph is as follows. Open any photo and select from the menu Image > Adjustments > Desaturate or click Ctrl+Shift+U All. And this is the easiest way to create a black and white photo in Photoshop. Unfortunately, the simplest method has the biggest flaw: a complete lack of color control. We get the shades we get, there is not the slightest possibility of somehow controlling the shades of color.

Black and white photos via Vibrance

Open a photo and select Image > Adjustments > Vibrance In the menu that appears, you will see 2 settings. Myself Vibrance and classic Saturation. Saturation removes color simply and linearly. And vice versa, it enhances the intensity of color if we want to make the photo more colorful. Vibrance more intelligent and cunning, for the most part it is tailored to increase saturation rather than desaturation. Its main purpose is to increase saturation in a smart way. Vibrance protects already oversaturated colors from saturation and saturates those that are less saturated. In the opposite direction Vibrance protects oversaturated colors from complete loss of saturation.

WITH Saturation everything is very simple. It linearly reduces color saturation and increases it linearly. Desaturate, with which we decolorized the photo in the previous method with nothing more than Saturation -100

Black and white photo via Hue/Saturation

Hue/Saturation- a truly universal photo black-bleacher that served all designers for these purposes long years. You will find it in Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation.

Slider Hue- this is the shade itself. About Saturation we already talked. Lightness is not analogous to brightness. It adds light to the photo or plunges it into the abyss of darkness. The main purpose Hue/Saturation— work with individual shades of color and adjust them using the three above options, that is, change the hue, saturate or decolorize, make it darker or lighter. By using Hue/Saturation You can desaturate either a single color (you can select it from the menu above the sliders) or a whole range of colors that you can select directly from the photo eyedropper or customize the rainbow palette at the bottom Hue/Saturation manually.

Check mark Colorize allows you to disable multi-hue and convert the entire photo to one shade. Which in turn helps to achieve very specific photo effects like sepia. By the way, on the menu Presets, which allows you to save ready-made settings, sepia is already available.

In my example I configured Hue/Saturation in the following way. I selected all the shades except red-orange and removed the saturation Saturation. I also made these shades darker using Lightness.

Black and white photo via Black and White

Remember at the beginning of the article I made you desaturate the photo using a color correction layer Black and White? Now we will talk about it. Open a photo and select Image > Adjustments > Black and White.

When resources Hue/Saturation were exhausted, the developers gave us a new color correction. Black and White is designed for competent translation of color into black and white and I would recommend using it. What's good about him? Firstly Black and White immediately decolorizes the photo, but does it differently than linear Saturation. Black and White automatically decolorizes shades, but also selects optimal lighting for them. In this sense, each slider with a color for Black and White, is essentially a setting Lightness from Hue/Saturation, but for a specific shade, which allows you to control color much more mobile and flexible.

If each of the color shades is adjusted to 50, the result will be linear Saturation -100. If you press the button Auto — Black and White will try to correct the result himself, based on his idea of ​​beauty. If you try to twist the sliders yourself, you can get an even more interesting result. Good on the menu Preset There are ready-made template settings for all occasions. A tick Tint allows you to add a sepia tint. It's a completely different matter!

Black and white photo via Channel Mixer

From the name it is not difficult to understand that Channel Mixer mixes channels. This means that the correction occurs at the level of channel masks. Super huh? A small theoretical excursion for clarity of understanding.

The image of all televisions and monitors is produced from three color channels. Red green and blue. Together this is called color mode RGB. There are other modes, for example print mode, but that’s not about that now. Three primary colors produce other primary colors. From various combinations of red, blue and green, the other primary colors are obtained, that is, all the colors of the rainbow. For example, pure red and pure green produce yellow. Well, then you remember, the light in the prism is decomposed into a rainbow and collected back. And the different colors of the rainbow in different proportions create all the other one hundred and five hundred million colors. The same thing happens in the monitor, which emits its alluring light on us. Any image has 3 color channels. Each color channel has a mask, where the lightest area is the color of the channel (red for example) and the darkest is the absence of light in the channel (black). From three channels everything else comes out.

Channel Mixer mixes color at the channel mask level. That is, it mixes the channels themselves, making them brighter or darker. Through this, the entire color combination changes. Opening Image > Adjustments > Channel Mixer immediately check the box Monochrome. It's the same thing Saturation -100 or Desaturation. Then you can transfer the channel saturation and get something similar to Black and White Effect. On the menu Presets as usual ready-made templates. But main danger hidden in the option value Total.

Meaning Total should not exceed 100% . Why? By changing the sliders we lighten or darken the channels. If the total permissible value is exceeded in 100% we “burn” the photograph towards darkening or lightening. This means that in some places the photo will lose color and information about the color will be deleted. The photo will become, in the language of photographers, overexposed, or vice versa. That is, the photo will begin to lose hue information, and some areas of it will become either 100% white or 100% black. And this is evil.

Black and white photo via Threshold

This is where black and white really hides. Threshold is a very ancient feature in Photoshop, it was created 15-20 years ago, and was designed for processing images for printing from old printers that can no longer be found even in the latest landfill. There are no printers for a long time, but Threshold stayed and this is what he does.

Each photograph can be conditionally assessed by the degree of light and darkness. If we ignore color saturation (Saturation -100) we will get a regular black and white photo, where each pixel will be either light gray or dark gray. Slider Threshold is a kind of index. Those pixels that are light enough based on the value on the slider become white. Those that don't turn black.

Black and white photo via Gradient Map

Gradient Map- acts the same as Threshold, it was just created later years 10 later and, if possible, 100 times more advanced. You can find it in Image > Adjustments > Gradient Map

Conditionally Gradient Map divides a photo into light areas and dark areas, and then overlays a gradient on them, with the right edge of the gradient overlaying the light areas and the left edge of the gradient overlaying the dark areas. Since the gradient can be anything, the result will be completely different. From sepia to HDR.

And this is another way to create a black and white photo in Photoshop.

Black and white photo via Selective Color

Selective Color not created for production black and white photographs, but for correcting specific shades of color, but what the hell? Black and white photography can also be taken in it. Although you can just as easily take your camera and go shoot it in black and white.

Open Image > Adjustments > Selective Color and reduce all shades to 0%. White, gray and black will remain. So play with them.

Black and white photo via HDR Toning

Speaking of HDR tinting. Black and white photography can also be obtained through this filter. Why not? True, for this you will have to merge all the layers of your work, so create a duplicate for this case.

So Image > Adjustments > HDR Toning. At the bottom of the settings window are still the same Saturate And Vibrance. Turn the sliders down to -100 and play around with the rest of the settings. By the way, on the menu Presets as usual, a number of good blanks for black and white toning. Unfortunately my photo is not suitable for the present HDR effect, but as a platform for experimentation it’s fine.

Black and white photo via Match Color

Match Color not for conversion to black and white, but for combining the tonality of light and color of two different images. Well, for example, we cut Masha out of one photo and pasted her into another photo next to Dasha. And the colors are different. Masha in a swimsuit on the beach, Dasha in a poorly lit room, and the photo was taken with a Polaroid about 10 years ago. But, meanwhile, in Match Color There are familiar tools for desaturating and creating sepia-like tones.

I won’t even dwell on this color correction, since it is not for converting to black and white, but since we are going to the end, why not mention it?

Black and white photo via Variations

Variations Ancient Photoshop color correction for working with shades and light. You can even get a black and white photo through this dinosaur.

Open it through Image > Adjustments > Variations check the box Saturation and click until you go crazy! The slider indicates the strength of the effect applied. You can click endlessly. Then, switch to Midtones and on the right side of the window add or reduce light.

Black and white photo via Replace Color

Tool Replace Color blunt and straightforward. Use a pipette to select a color. And then this color changes where necessary, including towards black and white.

Select the plus eyedropper, it selects not just one color, but several, and drag over the area you want to repaint. Change the Fuzziness setting as you go. This option expands the color gamut. Essentially, it creates a smoother and softer effect than a jerky, torn one. Done? Now Saturation -100 and Lightness to taste. The dish is served.

And at this stage, I listed all the conceivable and inconceivable ways to create a black and white photograph in Photoshop using color correction or color correction layers.

Without a doubt, in more degree Photoshop program is aimed at making the images and photographs loaded into it brighter and more contrasting. However, as many users exist, so will the requests they make. And if any other editor cannot cope with even a tenth of these requests, then nothing is impossible for Photoshop!

One of the frequent requests of users today is to convert a color image to black and white. Undoubtedly, a desaturated image sometimes looks much deeper than a bright image, which is why it is incredibly popular. Fortunately, there are a lot of ways to do this, I suggest you get acquainted with the most popular ones, and finally learn how to make a picture black and white in Photoshop.

The easiest ways

Conditionally possible ways Discoloration of pictures can be divided into two groups: those that lie on the surface and those that not every user knows about. By the way, I'm using Photoshop CS6, but the tools I use are also available in earlier versions. Which version is better for beginners has already been described here.

As you can see, both methods are very easy to implement in practice, and do not require special knowledge. However, there are some nuances that need to be taken into account, namely that the image turns out very dim, it has low contrast, but this parameter is so important for a b/w photo! If you, like me, are not satisfied with the resulting image quality, I offer another option on how to improve it.

More complicated way

We will again work with the “Image” section: so, click on it, in the drop-down menu find the “Hue/Saturation” item. A new window will open in front of you, in which you need to find the Saturation field, and then move the slider to left side all the way until the value reaches -100. As you can see, the image has turned from color to black and white, but at the same time, it has not lost its depth, and therefore, its contrast too. By the way, from this photo you can