Black & White Conversions using Photoshop
There are several different ways to convert images to B/W using Photoshop and I would like to share these methods with you as well as showing side by side comparisons of the end results. I have converted the same image to black and white using each method outlined below. See the images at the bottom of the page for comparison.
Method 1 – Image Mode Conversion
The first method is very simple, but generally does not produce good results. You simply change the mode of the image from RGB to Grayscale. This is done by the following steps: Image>Mode>Grayscale. The resulting image tends to be rather flat and even though this is an easy conversion, it is not one that I use or would recommend.
Method 2 – Desaturate
This method is just as easy as the Image Mode Conversion method. Simply follow these steps: Image>Adjustments>Desaturate. Again, this produces an image that is fairly flat and allows you no control over the outcome of the image.
Method 3 – Black & White Adjustment Layer
This method gives you much better control over the outcome of your image. 
To begin, click on the Adjustment Layer icon at the bottom of your layer panel, then select Black & White from the menu. From this point you can adjust the level of each color tone in your image using the sliders. The major adjustments I made to this photo were the Blues slider, to darken the background somewhat and the Reds and Yellows sliders to brighten the face of the infant. Pay attention to the colors in your original image and adjust the appropriate sliders based on those colors.
Method 4 – Gradient Map & Channel Mixer Adjustment Layers
I recently viewed a tutorial using this method and found it to be very effective and provides good control over the outcome of your image.
Start by making sure you have your colors set to black as the foreground and white as the background then create a Gradient Map adjustment layer in the same manner as the previous method. Then create another adjustment layer using Channel Mixer as your menu choice. Before making any adjustments in the Channel Mixer panel, be sure to check the Monochrome box. The Channel Mixer has sliders similar to the Black & White adjustment layer, with the exception that you are strictly adjusting the RGB colors. The really nice thing about using the Channel Mixer adjustment is that it allows you to mask over portions of the image that may become too bright due to your slider adjustments. You’ll notice in this example I have masked over the entire image except for the infant’s face. This leaves the background darker and brightened the face area. Since the infant’s face is the focal point of the image, this is a definite improvement in overall appearance of the image.
Method 5 – Hue/Saturation & Levels Adjustment Layers
This is my preferred method of converting an image to B/W.
Start by adding a Hue & Saturation adjustment layer. Slide the Saturation slider all the way to the left, this completely desaturates the image. Then add a Levels adjustment layer and make adjustments to the histogram by sliding the black, white and gray set points. If necessary, you can also mask your levels adjustments in certain areas that may become too hot or blown out. With some images I will also add a Curves adjustment layer to increase the contrast in the image. I added a Curves adjustment to this image and also masked the infant’s face.
Any of the last three methods could be used with great results depending on the type of image you are converting. Try each method to see what works best for you!
Here is the original image:
Below are the resulting images from each of the methods described above.
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