Black and White Photo: Convert a Color Picture Free

How do I convert a photo to black and white?

Press Choose a picture, drop a file on the page or paste one, and the black and white version appears at once. Pick a channel mix or press Quick grayscale, press Apply black and white, then Save picture. The saved file keeps the full size of your photo, and nothing is uploaded.

1. Press Choose a picture, drop a file, paste with Ctrl+V, or press Take a photo on a phone.
2. The picture shows in black and white right away. Press and hold the eye button to compare it with the color original.
3. Try the mixes: Natural, Red filter, Green filter or Blue filter, or drag the Red, Green and Blue sliders yourself.
4. Press Apply black and white to keep it, or Quick grayscale for the natural mix in one press.
5. Open Export for the format, then press Save picture and download the file.

iPhone HEIC photos open too. To turn a batch of HEIC files into JPG first, use HEIC to JPG. If the finished file is too large for an upload form, tick the size limit in Export or shrink it with Compress Image.

What is the difference between black and white and grayscale?

In everyday use they mean the same thing: a picture with no color, only shades of gray. The choice that matters is how red, green and blue turn into gray. This editor's natural mix uses the Rec. 709 luma weights, 21.26, 71.52 and 7.22 percent, the same gray that setting saturation to zero gives.

A strict one-bit picture, with only pure black and pure white pixels, is a different job called thresholding; this editor keeps all 256 gray levels. For a scanned document that must print in black and white, use PDF to Black and White.

The weights add to 100 percent, so a neutral gray stays the same gray. A mix that adds to more than 100 makes the whole picture lighter; the panel shows the total as you drag.

Why do some colors turn lighter than others in black and white?

Eyes and cameras respond most to green and least to blue, so the conversion gives green the largest weight. A pure green becomes gray 182 out of 255, a pure red 54 and a pure blue 18. Two colors that look different in the photo can land on nearly the same gray.

The weights hide a trap: colors that look nothing alike can share a gray. A saturated red of 200, 40, 40 and a muted green of 40, 88, 40 both become gray 74 and 74. The channel sliders in Black and White Filter pull such pairs apart.

How do I make a black and white photo look better?

Convert first, then shape the tones. Raise contrast for punch, lift shadows if faces turn dark and add a vignette to draw the eye inward. A red mix gives dramatic skies. The Noir and High contrast B&W looks in Filters set these sliders for you; apply one, then fine-tune in Adjust.

Contrast pivots on mid gray 128, so +100 contrast sends a gray of 96 down to 64 and a gray of 160 up to 192. That is stronger than most photos need; try +20 to +40 first.

Apply the conversion first, then open Adjust: each Apply is a separate undo step, so you can step back to any point. For one-press styles, see Photo Filters.

Can I get the color back after converting?

Yes, until you save. Undo with Ctrl+Z or the arrow button removes the conversion, and holding the eye button shows the color original next to your edit. A saved black and white file has no color left, but your original file is never touched, so keep it and save the conversion as a new file.

The editor always writes a new file with a new name ending in edited, so the original stays where it was.