How to Shoot… Black & White – Photoshop: Simple B&W Conversion

There are three simple ways to convert to black & white in Photoshop Elements and Photoshop  CS; the first two are variations on the same process, simply removing the colour from the image, while the third allows you to adjust the filtration.

Desaturate/Remove Colour

This is a one-click method to turn your images mono and can be achieved in both Elements and CS with a keyboard shortcut of Ctrl+Shift+U. Alternatively it can be found in the top menu under Enhance>Adjust Color>Remove Color (in Elements) or Image>Adjustments>Desaturate (in CS).

Hue/Saturation palette

This method offers a slider for your saturation, enabling you to leave a small amount of colour in your image, should you wish. For a straight mono conversion it’s still quick too, as the palette can be opened with the Ctrl+U shortcut, or from the top menu bar and simply takes a drag of the Saturation slider all the way to the left.

Black & White filter

This is a recent edition to Elements and Photoshop, offering differing degrees of colour filtration to be added either using sliders or a series of presets. What this means is that straight from conversion you have a more dynamic-looking mono image, rather than the often flat, grey image the desaturation route leaves you with. The Elements version features a before and after image, while CS’s palette offers more control.