This article explains how to convert photos to black and white, considering desaturation a poor method. It is better to use the channel mixer, which controls the brightness of individual color channels and thus preserves contrast. In Lightroom, it is recommended to shoot in color and edit later using the B&W panel and tone curve. Toning such as sepia or split toning gives black-and-white images their own color mood.
Category: Photography Basics > 8. Digital Post-Processing Article ID: 8.9 Created: May 2026
The essentials at a glance
- Black-and-white conversion goes far beyond simply desaturating— the channel mixer provides full control over how light or dark a color appears in the B&W image
- Always shoot in color and convert only during editing—this preserves the maximum amount of information for the conversion
- Toning (sepia, split toning) gives B&W images their own color mood
Explanation
Why not simply desaturate?
Desaturating (setting saturation to 0) is the simplest, but worst, method:
- All colors are converted into shades of gray based on their brightness
- Red and green tones have similar brightness → they become almost identical shades of gray → no contrast remains
- Result: Flat, low-contrast grayscale image
Example: A portrait with red clothing in front of a green background → after desaturation, both appear almost identical in gray → the clothing disappears into the background.
The Channel Mixer / B&W Mixer
The black-and-white converter (in Lightroom: the B&W panel) lets you control how bright each color channel appears in the B&W image:
| Color | Area in the image | Typical adjustment |
|---|---|---|
| Red | Skin tones, red objects | Higher → bright, smooth skin; lower → dramatic, textured |
| Orange | Skin tones, autumn foliage | Brighten for soft portraits |
| Yellow | Daylight, meadows | Brighten for vivid landscapes |
| Green | Vegetation, grass | Brighten or darken as desired |
| Blue | Sky, water | Darken → more dramatic sky with contrast against the clouds |
| Purple/Magenta | Flowers, artificial light | Rarely needed |
Classic landscape B&W: Darken blue → dramatic sky. Brighten yellow and green → vivid vegetation.
Classic portrait B&W: Brighten orange and red → bright, soft skin tones.
Step-by-step in Lightroom
- Open the photo in Lightroom
- In the Develop module: activate B&W (top right in the Basic panel)
- In the B&W panel: adjust the color channels as desired
- Adjust contrast using the tone curve
- Optional: adjust sharpening and noise reduction
Alternative: Adjust the black-and-white mix sliders directly while in color using the Targeted Adjustment Tool—drag over the area of the image that should become lighter or darker, then drag up/down.
Toning: Bringing color back into the B&W image
Sepia: Warm brown tone—reminiscent of old photographs. In Lightroom: apply a warm orange tone to the hue (toning), with saturation around 20–30.
Split toning: Different hues for shadows and highlights:
- Blue shadows, golden highlights → cinematic retro look
- Green shadows, yellow highlights → military/documentary look
Duotone: Only two hues throughout the entire image → distinctive, artistic character.
Practical tip
To get started with B&W photography: Photograph in color, activate B&W in Lightroom, and set the Blue slider to −30 to −50. The sky immediately becomes more dramatic and darker, and the clouds stand out. This alone makes the biggest difference between a flat B&W image and one with character.