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Photoshop Tutorial: How to Convert A Photo to Black & White

By T. Al Nakib.

Difficulty: Variable.

* This tutorial was made using PS CS3.
I always find that many people are not that familiar with Photoshop (and who can blame them?!), and one of the most frequent questions I face is “how do I change a color photo to black and white?” Well, There are many ways to converting photos from color to black and white. I will show you the most common ways of doing so:

• De saturate your photos (Difficulty: Beginner)

Simply go to Image>Adjustments>Desaturate and presto!

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• Go Grayscale (Difficulty: Beginner)

Go to Image>Mode>Grayscale.

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• Mix your channels (Difficulty: Intermediate)

Go to Image>Adjustments>Channel Mixer.

Select the “Monochrome” check box in the lower left corner before starting. Then slide the 3 channel bars (red, freen, and blue) in any way you like making sure the 3 bars total 100%.

Alternatively, you can go to Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Channel Mixer if you’d like this method to be on its own layer.

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• Black & White (Difficulty: Intermediate)

Go to Image>Adjustments>Black & White.

Firstly, you can use the ready-made presets just by selecting one from the “Preset” drop down menu. Or, secondly, you can use the sliders to desaturate individual colors for more control.

Alternatively, you can go to Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Black & White if you’d like this method to be on its own layer.

Lastly, you can select the “Tint” check box to give the photo a sepia effect of a shade of your choosing.

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If you know of any other methods of converting photos to black and white, please let me know.

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