How to make any color image black and white in Photoshop? How to convert a color photo to black and white.
A black and white photo is the most concise and simple way to show the soul of a quality photograph. Therefore, in this I will tell you how to get a black and white image from a color photograph. Of course, you can quickly discolor a photo or drawing using Ctrl+Shift+U:
At first glance, a bleached photo will look even better than a black and white one. But if you need a b / w photo, and not a photo without flowers, you can’t do just discoloration.
How to competently get a b/w photo from a full color photo:
1. First, let's run photoshop and open the image that we will be editing:
2. Choose Create new fill or adjustment layer and in the menu that appears, click on Hue/Saturation. In this layer, we will be able to adjust the saturation and hue of different 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 the same time.
3. Repeat the steps from the previous paragraph, but in the menu that appears, select the item selective color. Here you can choose the right shade for your future black and white photo.
4. Next, create another adjustment layer, which actually will translate our image into a black and white photo. Therefore, in the layers menu, select the item Gradient Map. Nothing needs to be changed here.
5. And finally, create another layer Curves, which will give the final look to our photo. For this layer, select a blending mode ( Blend Mode) soft light. Here we select the shade we need. As a result, we should get four layers plus the background layer.
Let's compare our black and white photo, obtained in the way described above, with a discolored photograph. As you can see the difference is quite significant. Therefore, although this method requires a little more time, it fully justifies itself, since adding original high-quality illustrations to articles on your site facilitates the promotion of not only new projects on the Internet, but also large portals with a solid history and impressive traffic. Do not be lazy to work on the quality of content, incl. graphic!
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 mankind has learned to do not just color photo, and even digital, the retro style does not lose its popularity.
Here is a color photo I will turn 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 the menu ( Alt + Shift + Ctrl + B ):
Enlarge image?
3. A window will appear where you can use the sliders to build a more appropriate look for the photo. Although by default, everything is set up appropriately enough to display the photo beautifully in black and white. Click on the "OK" button:
Method number 2. An easy way to make a black and white photo in Photoshop.
1. Open Photoshop with a photo.
2. From the top menu, select "Image" => "Correction" => "Desaturate". Or use hotkeys to quickly open the Desaturate menu ( Shift+Ctrl+U ):
Enlarge image?
This is the end result:
Method number 3. Combined.
Perhaps the name is quite suitable, but its essence is that not all elements of the photo are changed to black and white.
For example, a girl is standing with a rose. You can make all photos black and white, and leave the rosebud red. I think you get the idea. Let me show you how this can be done.
1. Open Photoshop with a photo.
2. Select a quick mask:
3. Select a brush and paint over the element you want to black and white. I'll paint the background.
4. Now press the quick mask. What you have sketched should be highlighted with dotted lines:
If the highlight is not what you wanted, you can invert it. Click on the menu "Highlight" => "Invert" or a combination of buttons on the keyboard Shift+Ctrl+I :
5. Now that everything is selected correctly, we make the selected pieces black and white.
From the menu at the top select "Image" => "Correction" => "Desaturate". Or use the hotkeys to quickly open the Desaturate menu - (Shift+Ctrl+U).
Here's what happened:
Black and white photography holds a certain mystery. Sometimes such pictures can say much more than color ones. Black and white portraits look very stylish. You can refresh your photo album without new photo shoots by simply making a black and white photo in Photoshop from those color ones that you already have. But it also happens that you need to make a photo in color. For example, you need to paint an old portrait. So how do you turn a black and white photo into color?
After we consider ways to turn color photographs into black and white with Photoshop, we will do the opposite. You will learn how to make a color photo from black and white in Photoshop.
How to make a black and white photo in Photoshop
As in any other photo manipulation, in the case of a black and white effect, there are easy and quick ways and options a little more complicated.
Let's first consider fast way converting a color image to black and white. The next one will show you how to make a black and white photo more spectacular by applying customizable special effects.
In order to compare and evaluate the ways of turning a color photo into black and white, let's try them on the same portrait.
Fast way
Select a photo and open it in Photoshop. We get on the layer with the image and make a duplicate of it by pressing the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+J.
In the main menu, select the item “Image” / Image - “Correction” / Adjustment - “Discolor” / Desaturate, or easier, keyboard shortcut Shift+Ctrl+U. The photo becomes black and white.
How to make a black and white photo expressive
Now from the same picture we will make a black and white photo, but more expressive. Select a photo and open it in Photoshop.
Automatically you will open the settings window in the "Auto" mode. There you will see a gradient for each individual color. On these gradients, you can move the slider to the dark side or the light side. This way you will lighten or darken each individual color.
So by moving the yellow and red sliders to the left, you can achieve lighter gray tones in the skin. Shifting to the right will give darker tones. To darken the background, you need to move the color slider to the right, which corresponds to the background tint. IN this case- blue and blue. When shifting, watch the image so that artifacts do not appear that spoil it. These are the settings applied to this photo.
Now compare the result of applying the function "Discolor" / Desaturate(left) and Black&White(on right).
Notice how applying the settings helped bring out more detail in the shadows. The face of the model became more voluminous, and the gradient on the background became deeper and softer.
How to Colorize a Black and White Photo in Photoshop
If the process of turning a color image into black and white is very simple, then the reverse requires more painstaking work. It is not difficult at all, but it will take some time to achieve the result.
For take an example simple portrait. Photo processing time depends on the number of objects in the picture. The more of them and the more complex the background, the more time you will spend processing the image. The working tools will be an adjustment layer and a soft white "Brush" / Brush. Using an adjustment layer is very handy if you want to colorize a black and white photo. So by changing the color on the adjustment layer, you can go back to initial stage and change color settings.
And now let's take a closer look at how to colorize a black and white photo in Photoshop.
Open a black and white photo in photoshop, press the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+J to create a duplicate. It’s worth saving our work in psd format right away. Click Shift+Ctrl+S, in the window that opens, set the file name, the path for the location and select psd in the file type.
Since we will be working for a long time, press the keyboard shortcut more often ctrl+s ("Save" / Save) so as not to lose work.
Get on the duplicate layer and apply an adjustment layer to it. "Hue / Saturation" / Hue / Saturation. You can call it in the list of adjustment layers by clicking on the image of a half-filled circle. It is located in the lower right corner, on the layers palette (where you work with layers).
First of all, we paint the skin. In the adjustment layer settings window that opens, check the box. "Toning" / Colorize, move the color tone slider towards red and yellow. Also in the positive direction (to the right) we move the saturation, the brightness is slightly reduced. So we will achieve a shade similar to the natural color of the skin.
Now place the cursor on the mask of the adjustment layer and press the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+I. The mask will be inverted and the effect will visually disappear.
Choosing a tool "Brush" / Brush by pressing a key B. On the control panel in the attributes, select a soft brush; pressure and opacity leave 100%; hardness is reduced to zero. The color of the brush is white. You can adjust the diameter of the brush stroke with the keys X And Kommersant(they are [ And ] ).
We select right size brushes and paint over all areas of the skin. We are working on an adjustment layer mask. To make it easier to work, the image can be zoomed in or out. To do this, press the key ctrl and while holding it, press either + , or – until you get the correct scale. To cancel unwanted actions, press the combination Ctrl+Alt+Z. The lips and tongue will be drawn separately, on different new adjustment layers, as they have a more pink tint.
After the skin is worked out, go to the layer with the duplicate image and once again apply an adjustment layer to it. "Hue / Saturation" / Hue / Saturation. Click the checkmark "Toning" / Colorize. But this time we will shift the color tone towards pink to tint the lips.
Get on the mask of the adjustment layer, click Ctrl+I. And, remaining on the layer mask, paint over the lips with the same white brush.
In order not to get confused, adjustment layers can be renamed according to the area of the image (lips, skin, cap). To do this, double-click on the name of the adjustment layer with the left mouse button, it will be highlighted in blue. Then simply enter a new name from the keyboard and press Enter.
Unsuccessful painting can be canceled not only through Ctrl+Alt+Z. Change the brush color to black and paint over the area with a black brush. This will work like an eraser, but the mask will remain. To quickly change the brush color from white to black and back, click the corner arrow above the working color swatches on the toolbar.
So, adding new adjustment layers "Hue / Saturation", repeat all the steps with them:
- tick on "Toning" / Colorize;
- color matching by moving the hue, saturation and brightness sliders;
- Ctrl+I, invert the mask;
- staying on the mask of the adjustment layer, paint over the desired area of the image with a soft white brush.
Choose the colors of clothes and hair at your discretion. If in the end the tone of any area does not suit you, click on the adjustment layer corresponding to this area and move the sliders again, choosing the appropriate option. Don't forget to save often ctrl+s).
Having done this work, you will see for yourself that it is not so difficult to make a black and white photo in Photoshop in color.
No doubt more Photoshop program aims to make the pictures and photos loaded into it brighter and more contrast. However, as many users exist, there will be as many requests that they make. And if any other editor can not cope with even a tenth of these requests, then nothing is impossible for Photoshop!
One of the frequent wishes of users today is the conversion of a color image to black and white. Undoubtedly, a bleached image sometimes looks much deeper than a bright one, which is why it is extremely popular. Fortunately, there are a lot of ways to do this, I propose to get acquainted with the most popular ones, and finally find out how to make a picture black and white in Photoshop.
The easiest ways
Conditionally possible ways of discoloring a picture 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 in earlier versions. Which of their versions is better for beginners has already been told here.
As you can see, both methods are very easy to implement in practice, and this does not require special knowledge. However, there are some nuances that need to be taken into account, namely, that the image is very dim, it has a low contrast, and 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, then move the slider to the left until it stops, so that the value reaches -100. As you can see, the image turned from color to black and white, but at the same time, it did not lose its depth, and therefore, the contrast too. By the way, from this photo you can
Today we will consider methods that allow you to make a photo in black and white. I want to say right away that there are many ways to perform this operation. And no matter how strange it may seem, a black and white photo can be different in hue. We will take our picture in gentle and light colors.
Preparation. First you need to know that you can make a photo in black and white using just three keys. Press the combination: "Ctrl + Shift + U", and then the picture will lose color. Or through the top control panel: "image - correction - desaturate". Then the picture will consist only of black and white shades. But we are trying to achieve the maximum possible amount of light tone. Next, you will learn how to achieve this.
This guide is for beginners. Therefore, each step will be described in detail.
- First you just need to take a black and white photo. In Photoshop, open the desired image. And immediately copy it to a new layer. This can be done using the Ctrl + J keys.
- Let's use the combination of the following keys: "Ctrl + Shift + U". As you already know, this operation will desaturate the image.
- We make the predominant amount of white. To do this, we need the "Levels" option. To call it, you can use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + L. Or open the “image” tab (select “correction” and find the item “levels”.
- Here we need to change the position of the sliders. Drag them to the left. The most important thing here is not to overdo it and not completely illuminate the image. Change the position until the picture begins to lose its main appearance.
- Next, go to the "filters" tab (in the top panel), select "sharpening" - "contour sharpness". The values are left unchanged.
- Copy the black and white layer.
- For a new layer choose new way overlays. There is a special drop-down menu in the layers panel, through which this parameter is controlled. There you need to find the item "overlap". Or use the key combination "Shift + Alt + O".
- On a new layer, go to the "filters" tab, where we select "blur" - "gaussian blur". We bet pretty high value(from 20 to 50).
- Take the eraser tool (hot key E). With it, we will select places such as eyes, lips, hair and other areas that have become almost invisible. In the parameters of the eraser, reduce the "hardness" value to zero. The size is customizable depending on the situation.
- It is necessary to erase on the last (third layer). Do this process slowly. If you accidentally erased the desired area, you can use the undo Ctrl + Z.
Additional information. With the help of this instruction, it will be possible to make it significantly different from a simple discoloration of the picture. You can experiment with different filters and values. After all, Photoshop is a huge platform for creativity and experimentation.
Conclusion. You can turn your photo into black and white in seconds. And if you don’t need more, then perhaps this instruction will be useless for you. But if you want to make the photo black and white, where in special light will highlight certain parts of the image, then follow these 10 simple steps. Moreover, it will only take 15-20 minutes.
