Convert to Black & White

Create rich grayscale images by controlling the brightness of the red, green, and blue channels, as well as the overall brightness. Use the Convert to Black & White filter to emphasize different areas or aspects of a photo, as well as alter its mood and tone.

Hover the mouse over each slider and watch the effect on the small preview to view which parts of the image will be affected by each channel. This helps to gauge the effect of each slider on the image.

Customized settings can be saved as a preset for future use. Presets can be selected from the Presets drop-down, or saved by clicking the adjacent Save icon.

To create a grayscale image:

  1. Select Filter | Color | Convert to Black & White from the main menu, or press W.
  1. Set the options as described below.
  2. Do one of the following:
    • Click OK to apply any changes and close the tool.
    • Click Cancel to discard all changes and close the tool.

Grayscale Options

The preview window inside the Convert to Black & White dialog will reflect changes made with the current slider.

Brightness Tab

In the Brightness tab, do any of the following:

  • Drag individual color sliders, or left-click on the image (where a color previously occurred) and drag up or down to alter the brightness of specific tones. For instance, drag the cursor on sky areas to alter the brightness of the blue.
  • Drag the Percent Red slider to the left or right.

    The more red there is in a pixel, the more effect the red slider has on that pixel. The area of red in the picture is brightened or darkened more than other areas.

  • Drag the Percent Green slider the left or right.

    The more green there is in a pixel, the more effect the green slider has on that pixel. The area of green in the picture is brightened or darkened more than other areas.

  • Drag the Percent Blue slider to the left or right.

    The more blue there is in a pixel, the more effect the blue slider has on that pixel. The area of blue in the picture is brightened or darkened more than other areas.

  • Drag the Percent Brightness slider to the right or left to brighten or darken the whole image.

Right-click the slider to reset the value to zero.
Contrast Tab

Increase or decrease the contrast of each individual color. In addition, specify the brightness range that the contrast adjustment will target for each color.

On the Contrast tab, do the following:

Strength: To adjust the contrast in specific color tones, drag individual color sliders, or left-click on the image (where a color previously occurred) and drag up or down.

Balance: To set the targeted brightness range for the contrast adjustment, adjust the slider to bring details out of highlights or shadows. To bring details out of the midtones, leave the Balance sliders set to 0.

Hold down Shift while clicking and dragging on the image to target the color's corresponding Balance slider.

Right-click the slider to reset the value to zero.

At the bottom of the Convert to Black & White panel, use the Amount and Hue sliders to add color back into the image. Choose the color using the Hue slider. The saturation of the color added back to any given pixel is scaled based on both the amount of color/saturation that existed in the original image and the Amount slider.

This filter features a Pixel Targeting tab (see Pixel Targeting for more details).

Use the Edit Brush to paint this effect onto specific areas of the image.

Use the Gradient tool to transition this effect across specific areas of the image.

Use the Radial Gradient tool to apply effects around, or directly to, a center point.

See also: