They can also create a mood or emotion, such as nostalgia or solemnity. Black and White are perfect for architecture, street photography, and portraits. In a black-and-white image, the composition and subject become the focus. But how to edit colour to black and white photos, and what mistakes to avoid?

You can create black-and-white photographs, with a black-and-white setting on your camera. However, today, we are going to convert colour images into black and white using photo editing software.

Mistakes to Avoid

• Lack of Contrast: in a nutshell, black and white images rely on light, shadows and contrast; without sufficient contrast, the image will be flat and dull.
• Excessive contrast: too much contrast results in loss of detail.
• Not exposing for the shadows: an excellent black-and-white photo will have crisp whites, rich blacks, and a good range of mid-grey.
• Not Shooting RAW: shooting in RAW will give you more control over the final edit, allowing you to change the white balance if needed in post.
• Ignoring the histogram: pay attention to the histogram when shooting and editing. This will ensure your highlights aren’t blown out and detail lost.

Different Methods

There are so many ways to do black-and-white editing – we will cover three ways here. All will work with Photoshop or Lightroom. There are also many free and premium actions and presets available for Photoshop and Lightroom. These will convert colour to black and White. Additionally, Luminar Neo will also convert a colour image to black and white. For this post, we are concentrating on simple but effective ways to do it in Lightroom and Photoshop.

Editing your colour image

TIP: When you open your images in Camera Raw or the LR develop module – click on the little box in the top right corner of the histogram (see below). In LR, the little arrow will be blue when active; in PS, it will be red. This will show your blown-out highlights in red. Bring the highlights slider down until the red disappears. Next, before you convert to black and White – edit your image. Make all necessary crops and adjustments, so you are starting with a clean edit. (if you click the box in the opposite corner it shows your crushed shadows).

Method One

Open your image in camera raw and click B&W on the right-hand panel. This will convert the image to monochrome. Open the B&W Mixer in the panel and move the sliders to your liking. Next, click Open to bring it into Photoshop. From here, you can edit using your normal workflow.

Method Two: Black and White Adjustment in Photoshop

One of the most straightforward ways (without the additional cost of buying actions) is to apply a black-and-white adjustment layer. At the bottom of your layers panel, like the round black and white cookie type symbol, and from the menu that pops up, choose black and white. Your image will instantly become black and white, with a colour slider window opening.

Play with the sliders until it’s to your liking – or click the auto option above the red, and PS will adjust for you.

Once you are happy with it – as a final step, you can flatten the image and then, in Camera Raw, make a final adjustment to contrast and clarity.

Method three – Photoshop

The second super easy method is opening the image in Camera Raw and bringing the vibrance and saturation down to 0%. You won’t be able to adjust the HSL slider with this method, but you can adjust the contrast, clarity and blacks in Camera Raw.

Method Four – Lightroom

The third method – for lightroom users is to open the image in the develop module and click on Black & White. From here is a simple matter to play with the clarity and contrast sliders to achieve the desired result. Lowering the temperate will make an image colder (blue) or warmer (orange); this will also adjust the tones in your photo.

Some famous photographers known for their black-and-white work include Ansel Adams, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and Dorothea Lange. Black and white photography remains a popular and respected art form today, and its beauty and impact are likely to endure for many years to come.

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