How to Convert Images to Black and White

How to Convert Images to Black and White

There’s something magical about black and white photography that genuinely attracts us. The emotions it stirs, the nostalgia it brings, the timelessness effect it has. Black and white shots make us look at a picture from a different angle and give us the opportunity to remove the distractions caused by powerful colors. It’s easy to understand why this type of photography continues to be popular to this day.

Creating this sort of monochrome imagery is quite simple today. There are plenty of photo editors that allow you to turn colorful pictures into grayscale. In this article we’re going to show you how to accomplish the task, according to the device you’re currently using.

Create Black & White Photos on PC/Mac

How to Convert Images to Black and White

If you’re looking for a desktop-based solution to convert images to black and white, BatchPhoto is definitely worth a try. The tool is compatible with both Windows and Mac and comes with batch processing capabilities, making it ideal for the conversion of dozens or hundreds of photos at once. One of strong points of the software is its user-friendly interface. You can create black and white images in three simple steps:

  • Step 1: Add the photos into the program.
  • Step 2: Click on Add Filter > Apply Fx > Black & White. Additionally you can go to Touch-up > Contrast to create a deep contrast between the light and dark areas.
  • Step 3: Choose your output format and folder.

BatchPhoto is a photo editor packed with features. The tool places at your disposal a wide range of options to enhance and optimize your pictures. Depending on your needs, you can resize, crop, rotate, watermark and date stamp photos or retouch them in various ways. For that purpose you can, as we’ve already mentioned, adjust the contrast, correct the brightness, reduce the noise, sharpen images and more. There are also numerous special effects to choose from, as well as various frames and borders to decorate your images.

It is worth mentioning that BatchPhoto gives you the possibility to save your current settings as Profiles and easily load them in future editing sessions. This way you’ll gain valuable time and energy, as you won’t have to go through the same operations over and over again.

Create Black & White Photos Online

How to Convert Images to Black and White

If you’d like to convert images to grayscale, but don’t really feel like installing a new software on your computer, you can accomplish this task directly in your browser.

PhotoSize is a free online tool designed to help you edit your pictures in multiple ways. This web-based editor supports batch processing, in case you need to edit multiple images, and promises to make the process as easy as possible. All you have to do is upload your photos and go to Add Filters > Effects > Black & White.

PhotoSize offers additional features to improve the overall aspect of your images. This online tool allows you to automatically adjust the contrast, change the brightness, hue and saturation or apply artistic effects like charcoal and sepia. At the same time you can optimize your photos by resizing, cropping and rotating them.

Create Black & White Photos on Mobile

How to Convert Images to Black and White

If you need to make a photo black and white on the go, there are numerous alternatives at your disposal. Google Photos, as well as the native Photos app on iOS provide fast solutions to convert an image to black and white. But in case you want to gain more control over the final appearance of your picture, we recommend taking a look at Snapseed.

Snapseed is a powerful image editor available for both Android and iOS devices. Besides being rich in features, one of the advantages of this app is that is quite easy to use. Here are the simple steps you need to follow to create a grayscale photo:

  • Step 1: Open the app and select the desired image
  • Step 2: Go to Tools > Black & White

At this point, Snapseed gives you plenty of options to further tweak your photo. You can choose between six presets: Neutral, Contrast, Bright, Dark, Film and Darken Sky. You can then tap on the Sliders icon, located in the middle, to adjust the Brightness, Contrast and Grain. Additionally you can use the Color filters if you want to go even further with your image adjustment.

You can download a free trial version of BatchPhoto here.