Looking through photos in fashion magazines or social networks, you can be sure that black and white photography does not lose its relevance over time and is always popular. With the advent of digital cameras, one very important change has taken place. In the era of film photography, we shot on special black and white film, but now, using digital cameras, we convert a color photo into black and white using graphic editors.

In this article, you will get acquainted with the most common and widely used methods for converting a color photo to black and white, learn about the pros and cons of each of them. All transformations are carried out in Photoshop CS and Elements.

Digital conversion to black and white photograph It has many advantages over film. In film cameras, the conversion process occurs directly during shooting, and if you want to somehow change the properties of black and white, then you need to apply color filters (for example, a red filter to make the blue sky darker).

WITH digital photography everything has become much easier - you control the entire translation process, and, knowing the basics, you can easily, for example, darken some part of a photo in a few mouse clicks.

Shoot in RAW, it saves more information and gives you more options during the conversion process. We also recommend converting the file to 16-bit Tiff format, as 16-bit files store more information than 8-bit ones.

Almost all digital cameras have a mode black and white photography, i.e. the camera itself converts the image from color to black and white, the result, as a rule, is of poor quality, so we advise you to forget about this mode and use the techniques below.

Methods for converting to black and white

With some techniques of converting to b/w, it is impossible to correct certain parameters during or after conversion. The only way to change anything in such a case is to undo the entire action.

But there are also methods that allow you to make changes in the process and after the conversion using adjustment layers. All manipulations are saved on a new layer, while the original image remains untouched. Then, when all the necessary changes have already been made, you reduce all the visible layers into one image, then nothing can be done. But before merging the image, you can at any time adjust the necessary conversion parameters by simply clicking the adjustment layer icon.

Naturally, translation methods that retain the possibility of corrections are more preferable. We've worked in Photoshop Elements and Photoshop CS3, but these techniques apply to other versions of the program as well.

1. Translating with Grayscale

This is perhaps the easiest method of converting to black and white. But all information about the color, unfortunately, is lost as a result.

  1. Image> Mode> Grayscale (Image> Mode> Grayscale)
  2. Click ‘Discard’

In Photoshop Elements:

  1. Image > Mode > Grayscale
  2. Click ‘OK’

pros A: Fast and very easy.

Minuses: Color information is lost.

2. Translation using Hue / Saturation Tool (Tool Hue / Saturation)

This technique gives exactly the same result as Grayscale. The only advantage is the ability to create an adjustment layer.

  1. Layer> New Adjustment Layer> Hue / Saturation (Layer> New Adjustment Layer> Hue / Saturation).
  2. Click ‘OK’.
  3. Move the slider responsible for saturation (Saturation) to the left to -100 and click OK.

Pros: Quick and easy, it can be applied as an adjustment layer in both Photoshop and Photoshop Elements.

Minuses: The translation process is not controlled.

3. Translation method with LAB color

As part of this method, the photo is transferred from RGB mode to LAB mode, in which different channels are responsible for color and brightness.

  1. In Photoshop CS3:
  2. Image> Mode> Lab Color (Image> Mode> Lab Color)
  3. Go to the Channels window and select the Brightness channel.
  4. Image> Mode> Grayscale (Image> Mode> Grayscale)
  5. Click OK

Pros: This method gives better results than all of the above.

Minuses: During the conversion process, it is not possible to influence individual parameters.

4. Translation with Gradient Map

The Gradient Map tool works based on the brightness values ​​of your photo. Dark areas turn to black or dark gray, and light areas turn to white or light gray.

In Photoshop and Elements:

  1. Hold down the D key to set black and white colors as the main ones.

  1. Go to Layer> New Adjustment Layer> Gradient Map (Layer> New Adjustment Layer> Gradient Map).
  2. Click OK

Pros: Fast and easy process, color information is preserved.

Minuses: Lack of control over the conversion process.

5. Use the Channel Mixer (Channelmixer)

This method exploits the full potential of the color information that an image contains, which makes it different from the above methods. Color photographs contain three color channels: red, green and blue, their combinations give millions of the most different colors and shades.

With the Channel Mixer tool, you can adjust the ratio between red, green and blue channels during the conversion process. The Channel Mixer works based on the brightness values ​​of the image. As you move the slider for a channel, areas of the image that are close to the color of the channel on the color wheel become lighter, while areas that are opposite on the color wheel become darker. For example, by increasing the value of the red channel, you make areas of the image close to red in color lighter and blue areas darker.

The Channel Mixing section can be called the digital analogue of color filters used by photographers. Setting the red channel brightness to 100% in the editor gives the same effect as using a red filter and black and white film.

  1. Layer> New Adjustment Layer> Channel Mixer (Layer> New Adjustment Layer> Channel Mixing)
  2. Put a tick in front of Monochrome (Monochrome)
  3. Move the sliders in the Red, Green and Blue channels to make areas of the image lighter or darker. Remember that the sum of the values ​​of all channels must be equal to 100, otherwise various defects appear.
  4. Click OK.

Original photo:

Red 80%, Green 10%, Blue 10%. With 80% red, we darkened the blue sky and made the red balloon lighter:

Red 20%, Green 40%, Blue 40%. And with 20% red, we made the blue sky lighter and the balloon darker:

Pros: This method gives you control over the conversion process.

Minuses: Take a lot of time.

6. Convert to B&W to toolElements

This tool is a simplified version of the Channel Mixer described earlier and is only available in Photoshop Elements. There is no way to create an adjustment layer.

  1. Enhance> Convert to Black and White (Enhance> Convert to B/W)
  2. Move the sliders to the right or left to lighten or darken the respective hues. To compensate for changes in contrast, use the Contrast slider. You can also select one of the presets already set by the program in the menu on the left.
  3. After all the manipulations, click on the OK button.

Pros: Pretty flexible conversion system using color channels.

Minuses: There is no way to create an adjustment layer.

7. Double use of the Hue/Saturation tool

This technique uses two Hue/Saturation adjustment layers. The top layer is directly responsible for the conversion, and the bottom layer is responsible for the changes in the color of the original photo, which naturally affect the shades of brightness in the black and white version. Using this technique gives you good control over the conversion process.

In Photoshop CS and Elements:

  1. Layer> New Adjustment Layer> Hue / Saturation (Layer> New Adjustment Layer>
  2. Move the slider Saturation (Saturation) all the way to the left (-100) and click OK.
  3. Activate the background by clicking on the background layer.
  4. Layer> New Adjustment Layer> Hue / Saturation (Layer> New Adjustment Layer> Hue / Saturation), click OK.
  5. Change the blending mode of the lower adjustment layer to Color (Color).
  6. Double click on the bottom Hue/Saturation layer icon.
  7. Move the slider Hue (Color tone) and see how the brightness of the image changes. You can also experiment with the Saturation and Lightness sliders.
  8. We press OK.

Original photo:

Hue +81, Saturation +22:

Hue +68, Saturation +56:

Pros: Control over the process of translation into b/w.

Minuses: None.

8. Adjustment layerBlack&White

This method gives you complete control over the process of converting a photo to black and white, it involves mixing channels and changing saturation and hue, and you have 6 sliders at your disposal, each of which is responsible for a separate color.

  1. Layer> New Adjustment Layer> Black and White (Layer> New Adjustment Layer> Black and White)
  2. We press OK. The adjustment layer window pops up:

  1. Move the sliders to the right or left, depending on whether you want to darken or lighten an area whose color is close to the six listed. You can also select one of the presets in the Preset menu.
  2. Move the cursor over the photo and hold down the left mouse button. The cursor has changed, thus activating the point adjustment tool, which allows you to select a specific area of ​​the image. While holding the left mouse button, move the cursor to the left or right, the selected areas will become darker or lighter, respectively.
  3. We press OK.

Original photo:

Red 70, Yellow 60, Green 40, Cyan 60, Blues 20, Magenta 80:

Red 27, Yellow 244, Green 40, Cyan 101, Blue 146, Magenta -144:

Pros: The most flexible way, giving the most control over the process.

Minuses: Not available in earlier versions of Photoshop.

Conclusion

So, you got acquainted with the most common methods for converting a color image to black and white. It is worth paying attention to each of them and choosing the most suitable for you, because all Photoshop users have different requirements and goals.

For over a century, monochrome photography has been dominant. Until now, black and white shades are popular among professional and amateur photographers. In order to make a color image discolored, it is necessary to remove information about natural colors from it. The popular online services presented in our article can cope with the task.

The big advantage of such sites over software is ease of use. In most cases, they are not suitable for professional purposes, but they will be relevant for solving the task.

Method 1: IMGonline

IMGOnline is an online service for editing images in BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG and TIFF formats. When saving the processed image, you can select the quality and file extension. It is the easiest and fastest way to apply a black and white effect to a photo.


Method 2: Cropper

Online photo editor with support for many effects and operations for image processing. Very handy when using the same tools repeatedly, which are automatically displayed in the Quick Access Toolbar.

  1. Open a tab "Files", then click on the item "Load from disk".

  2. Click "Choose File" on the page that appears.

  3. Select the image to be processed and confirm with the button "Open".

  4. Submit the image to the service by clicking "Download".

  5. Open a tab "Operations", then hover over the item "Edit" and choose an effect "Translate to b/w".

  6. After the previous step, the tool used will appear in the quick access bar at the top. Click on it to apply.

    7. If the effect is successfully superimposed on the picture, it will turn black and white in the preview window. It looks like this:

  7. Open the menu "Files" and press "Save to disk".

  8. Upload the finished image using the button "Download file".

    9. Upon completion of this process, a new mark will appear in the quick download bar:

Method 3: Photoshop Online

A more advanced version of the photo editor, endowed with the main functions of the program. Among them, there is the possibility of detailed adjustment of color tones, brightness, contrast, and so on. You can also work with files uploaded to the cloud or social networks, such as .

  1. In the small window in the center of the main page, select "Upload image from computer".

  2. Select the file on the disk and click "Open".

  3. Open the menu item "Correction" and click on effect "Bleaching".

    4. With a successful application of the tool, your image will acquire black and white shades:

  4. On the top bar select "File", then press "Save".

  5. Set the parameters you need: file name, format, quality, then click "Yes" at the bottom of the window.

  6. Start download by clicking on the button "Save".

Method 4: Holla

Modern popular online image processing service, with support for Pixlr and . IN this method the second option will be considered as it is considered the most convenient. The site has more than a dozen free useful effects in its arsenal.

  1. Click "Choose File" on home page service.

  2. Click on the image to edit and then on the button "Open".

  3. Click item "Download".

  4. Choose from the presented photo editor "Aviary".

  5. In the toolbar, click on the tile that says "Effects".

  6. Scroll to the end of the list to find the right one using the right arrow.

  7. Choose an effect "B&W" by clicking on it with the left mouse button.

    8. If everything went well, your photo will appear in black and white in the preview window:

  8. Confirm the effect overlay with the item "OK".

  9. Finish the image by clicking "Ready".

  10. Click "Download image".

Method 5: Editor.Pho.to

A photo editor that is capable of performing many online image processing operations. The only one of the presented sites where you can adjust the overlay intensity parameter of the selected effect. Able to interact with the cloud service, social networks facebook,

Hello, dear readers of my site! Today I will tell you how I add color to b/w photos.

This method is not new and not mine. Once I spied it on YouTube, now I will try to repeat it. During the campaign, I am sometimes asked to add color to old black and white photographs. This was the reason to write this article on the transfer of b / w images to color.

How to colorize a black and white photo in photoshop

1. First we need the original photo. I took a photo from the article "". Here she is:

2. Since old photographs are often digitized using a conventional scanner, they acquire a greenish or bluish tint. Therefore, we translate the photo into black and white using Photoshop, more precisely into shades of gray. This is done in several ways, but for this method it is better to do it as follows. Pressing a keyboard shortcut Ctrl+U and drag the slider to the very beginning, as in the screenshot below:

As a result, my photo has changed a bit:

That's it, now we can quickly and easily turn any photo into black and white in Photoshop.

And we give it a flesh color, as I usually start by painting the skin of the face, arms, legs, etc. Initially choose color with code #ffcc99:

Give it a blending mode Color (“Color” in the Russian version of Photoshop). Who cares that we are doing this mode, then we enter in the google search "Color blending mode". The first couple of articles provide an exhaustive answer. In Photoshop, it is at the very bottom:

4. Now select the brush and color white and paint over the areas that we need to color. At the same time, if you made a mistake and painted over the excess, then change the color of the brush to black and adjust it. As a result, I gave the skin color as follows:

Change the flesh color in the new layer to the one with which we will dye the hair and give color to the hairstyle:

6. Now, step by step, we create layers and give color to all objects in the photo. I painted only the bride, since there are a lot of details in the photo, I will have time to color everything and update the article, but now we are making a color portrait from a black and white portrait of the bride. Paint lips:

7. To give the eyes more expressiveness, I simply created a new layer by pressing the keys Shift+Ctrl+N. Selected tool Brush (Brush) and gave it a color close to black (code #161616 ) and summed up the lines of eyelashes, eyebrows and tinted a fountain pen (actually it is ballpoint or gel, I don’t remember already). As a result, I got this photo and the following layers:

8. For comparison, I post the result of how I made a color photo from a black and white photo using Photoshop:

Original black and white photo

Final color photograph

If you have any questions about how to add color to a b/w photo, then ask them in the comments or through the feedback tab.

Are you curious to see what black and white photographs from your old albums would look like if they were colorized? Think you need to spend a lot of time in Photoshop for this? It turns out that you can make an image in color using a special online program! But let's talk about everything in order.

Colorize a black and white photo online in one click in Algorithmia

In order to make a picture black and white online, dozens of Internet resources have been created, but only one is provided for the reverse function - Algorithmia. The work of this unusual site is built on practical application neural networks. In addition to the fact that he can convert an image from black and white to color, he can also:

  • determine the area depicted in the photo;
  • to distinguish the faces of people in the pictures;
  • analyze the positive/negative mood of the given text;
  • and much more.

Algorithmia has an English-language interface, but since the section we need - Colorize Photos - implies only one function, working with it does not cause any difficulties.

So, upload your bw photo, which we are going to colorize - this can be done by selecting a picture on a computer or entering a link to its location on the Internet.

If you just want to test how to turn a black and white photo into a color one, you can choose one of the pictures offered here for an example.

The coloring process takes about half a minute. Next, we are offered to evaluate the photo before and after.


Move the purple slider to see the effect of the changes

You can save both a fully colored drawing and the comparison itself - a photo partially in color and partially in b/w. I was a little disappointed with the watermark on the finished picture, but it is quite compact and modestly located in the corner. You can get rid of it by simply cropping the image.

Through several experiments, we found out that the service copes best with painting skin, water and trees. The clearer their boundaries, the better the result.


Let's compare - on the left is the original photo, which we discolored and uploaded to the site, and on the right - its colorized version

As you can see, Algorithmia distinguishes people well and automatically colors the skin in beige tones. True, the service does not feel the borders very well, so the cardigan, just in case, was also made flesh-colored.

In the background behind the girl, the editor "didn't recognize" the Christmas tree, so he left it just a dark spot. But he clearly defined the color of the gift and jeans and did almost everything right, except for the beige leg in the foreground and very blurry borders. The service decided to “revive” the bird in the corner of the picture, so it made it yellowish.

In general, of course, there are certain flaws in the result, but all the same, Algorithmia deserves respect, if only because it is the only site that allows you to turn a black and white photo into color.

How to colorize a picture in Photoshop: a simple guide for beginners

We want to say right away that this method will require much more time than the previous one. Also here you will need minimal skills in Photoshop, and the more of them, the more beautiful the result will be.

Load the image into Photoshop and create a new empty layer. Next, use the "Quick Selection" tool and click on the objects that we are going to convert to one color.


Use the Alt key to deselect unwanted area

Select the tool "Brush", select the appropriate color and sketch the selected fragments.


If you want the shades to be not too saturated, you can reduce the opacity and pressure of the brush.
In order to preserve the presence of shadows and color transitions, change the layer blending mode to "Overlay"
It already looks much more natural.

We repeat the same operations with the rest of the objects in the photo. Recall the sequence:

  • create a new layer;
  • select a fragment;
  • apply the desired color;
  • change the layer's blend mode.

For convenience, it is better to name each new layer in accordance with the fragment being painted.

If the edges are not handled too carefully, then this will definitely be noticeable and the picture will look unnatural. We recommend using the "Gaussian Blur" function with a small radius to smooth out all the imperfections a little.


In the "Filter" section, select "Blur", and then - "Gaussian Blur". Then just control the radius until you achieve an organic result.

Let's see what happened in the end. On the left is the original photo, which we then discolored, on the right is its color version.


In general, the new image looks quite natural, although many shades differ from those in the original version.

Summing up, we can say that making a black and white photo color in Photoshop is much more difficult and longer than using an online service. For comparison, let's say that the whole process took us more than an hour, although in Algorithmia everything would be ready in a few seconds. True, the result in Photoshop is more organic and predictable, and you can control all the moments yourself.

So far, these are all ways to colorize a black and white photo. Therefore, decide what is more important for you - efficiency or quality of the result, and rather use all the advice received in practice!

Hi all! We continue to conquer the basics of working in Photoshop. Today I have prepared a lesson for readers on the topic How to turn a color photo into black and white.

Sooner or later, while processing photos and images in Photoshop, we are faced with the need to turn a color photo into black and white. Therefore, I decided to prepare this short lesson for my readers to show how this is done visually.

There are many ways to perform this operation. As part of this mini lesson, we will not consider the methods used by professional photographers, we will consider the most simple and quick ways How to turn a color photo into black and white. In the future, in future lessons, we will definitely return to this topic and see other ways, more complex and professional, used by advanced users of Photoshop.

We will get to know 3 ways converting color photos to black and white, I’ll say right away that these methods are not professional, the quality after processing by them is not the best, but these methods are quite suitable for novice users to learn.

So, I propose to move from words to deeds. First, let's open the image we want to make black and white.

Now let's start processing. I present to your attention the first method.

Method #1:

Converting a color photo to black and white using the "G" function grayscale".

To do this, we need to go to the top menu: Image/Mode/Grayscale. A window will appear with the question “Delete color information”, click delete and our photo has become black and white.

We go to the menu Picture/Modes/Grayscale

Very fast and easy, right? We move on.

Attention! Remember that you can always return an action back with the hotkeys CTRL+Z. Let's move on to the second method.

Method #2:

We turn a color photo into black and white using the " Discolor".

We rise to the top menu of the program and go to:( Shift + CTRL+U ) . See below the result of the operation.

Go to the top menu Image/Correction/Desaturate or press hot keys Shift+Ctrl+U

Method #3:

Making a black and white image using an adjustment layer " Black and white»

This method is also extremely simple and fast, its advantage is that when using adjustment layers, Photoshop makes changes and corrections to a special adjustment layer, and not to the original image, which we decided to make in black and white. We also have features such as: reverse the entire editing process, control the opacity of the layer, turn the visibility of the layer on and off. This method allows you to get a more beautiful black and white image, unlike the previous ones.

Step 1:

So, the photo is already open for us. Now go to the panel "Correction", if it is closed for you, then open it through the top menu Window/Correction. We find in the panel " Correction» adjustment layer « black and white” and click on it.

To open the Adjustment Layers panel, go to the top menu Window/Correction

Step 2:

After you click on the adjustment layer " black and white“, our image has been converted to black and white and a window with sliders has appeared. In this window, with the help of many simple parameters, you can adjust the black and white effect to your liking. Move the sliders until you get a sharp black and white image. Moving the sliders to the right colors areas that were previously colored with the slider's color a lighter shade of gray, while moving the sliders to the left colors areas with a lighter shade of grey. dark shade gray.

At the top of this window, you can select pre-made sets or create your own set and then save it via the "triangle with stripes" menu, which is located in the upper right corner of the window. If you click on the " Auto“, Photoshop will automatically select the options for how it thinks the black and white image should look. Here's what happened to me.

Here's what happened to me

That's all for today, try to train everyone 3 ways and write about your results below in the comments. See you in the next lessons!