Black and white photography might seem anachronistic in an era of incredible colour reproduction. But removing colour forces viewers to focus on form, texture, light, and composition in ways colour images don’t demand. Here’s how to approach black and white photography with digital tools while respecting what made it powerful in the film era.

Why Shoot Black and White

Colour can distract from your subject. A cluttered background with multiple colours draws attention away from your main subject. Convert to black and white, and suddenly compositional elements become clear—lines, shapes, textures, and tonal relationships emerge.

I shoot black and white when I want to emphasize structure over description. Architecture, abstract compositions, and portraits where emotion matters more than literal representation all benefit from monochrome treatment.

Harsh light that creates problems in colour photography often works beautifully in black and white. Midday sun produces strong shadows and highlights that look washed out in colour but create dramatic contrast in monochrome.

Black and white feels timeless. Colour dates images—fashions, cars, and cultural elements place photos firmly in specific eras. Monochrome images transcend temporal specifics more easily.

Thinking in Black and White

The hardest part of black and white photography is learning to visualize scenes in monochrome while viewing them in colour. Colours with similar luminance look identical in black and white despite appearing quite different in colour.

Red and green objects might have similar brightness, rendering as nearly identical gray tones in black and white. What looked like strong colour contrast becomes flat and boring in monochrome.

I’ve trained myself to evaluate scenes by squinting, which blurs colour and emphasizes tonal values. If a scene still has strong visual interest when colour is reduced, it will likely work well in black and white.

Look for contrast, not just colour. Bright highlights against deep shadows, textured surfaces, and strong geometric shapes all translate effectively to monochrome regardless of original colours.

Colour to Black and White Conversion

Simple desaturation produces poor black and white images. You’re discarding colour information without controlling how different colours convert to grayscale values.

Channel mixers give you control over how each colour channel contributes to the final monochrome image. Emphasizing red channel creates darker skies and lighter skin tones. Emphasizing blue creates lighter skies with more detail.

Lightroom’s black and white mix panel is my primary conversion tool. Eight colour sliders let you lighten or darken how each colour range renders in the final monochrome image. This control is essential for creating compelling conversions.

Silver Efex Pro (now part of DxO Nik Collection) offers more sophisticated black and white conversion with film simulation, grain, and toning options. It’s more complex than Lightroom but provides exceptional control and film-like rendering.

Working with Tones and Contrast

Tonal range from pure black to pure white provides black and white images with depth and dimension. Images lacking true blacks or true whites look flat and weak.

Contrast adjustments affect the entire tonal range. Increasing contrast pushes tones toward extremes—dark areas get darker, bright areas brighter, midtones either shift toward highlights or shadows depending on where they fall.

I typically add more contrast in black and white conversion than I would in colour processing. Monochrome images can handle and often benefit from stronger contrast that would look excessive in colour.

Selective contrast adjustments provide control over different tonal regions. Lightroom’s tone curve lets you separately adjust shadows, midtones, and highlights. This nuance creates more sophisticated tonal relationships than global contrast adjustments.

Texture and Detail

Black and white photography emphasizes texture because colour isn’t there to distract from surface qualities. Rough bark, smooth skin, weathered metal—textures become primary compositional elements.

Sharpening and clarity adjustments enhance texture perception. I apply more aggressive texture enhancement in black and white than colour work. The risk of oversharpenening is lower when you’re not fighting unnatural colour artifacts.

Side lighting reveals texture most effectively. Light raking across textured surfaces creates tiny shadows that define surface characteristics. Front lighting flattens texture, backlighting creates silhouettes, but side lighting describes surface detail.

Lighting for Black and White

High contrast lighting—strong directional light creating defined shadows—often works better in black and white than colour. What looks harsh in colour appears dramatic in monochrome.

Window light produces excellent black and white portraits. The directional quality and gradient falloff create dimensional modeling on faces. I shoot many portraits specifically for black and white conversion with only window light.

Overcast light that’s bland for colour photography can work for certain black and white approaches. The low contrast and even illumination suit subtle, nuanced monochrome images where you don’t want dramatic lighting to dominate.

Flash and artificial light give you complete control over contrast and directionality. Black and white photography with controlled lighting lets you create any tonal relationship you envision.

Subject Selection

Graphic compositions with strong shapes and lines work exceptionally well in black and white. Architecture, urban landscapes, and abstract subjects emphasize structure over colour.

Portraits in black and white focus attention on faces, expressions, and people rather than clothing or environment. I convert portraits to black and white when I want viewers to connect with the subject as a person rather than noticing superficial details.

Texture-rich subjects—weathered surfaces, natural materials, aged objects—become more interesting in monochrome. The texture itself becomes subject rather than just surface quality.

Movement and action can be emphasized through black and white conversion. Sports, street photography, and dance often gain energy in monochrome by removing colour distraction and emphasizing form and motion.

Film Simulation and Grain

Digital black and white looks “too clean” to photographers accustomed to film. Film grain added organic texture that digital sensors don’t naturally provide.

Adding grain in post-processing creates more film-like character. Lightroom and most editing software include grain adjustment. I add subtle grain to most black and white images—enough to add texture without looking obviously noisy.

Film simulation presets emulate specific film stocks—Tri-X, HP5, Acros, etc. These presets aren’t just grain; they include contrast curves and tonal characteristics matching how those films responded to light. Silver Efex Pro excels at film simulation.

I use film simulation as starting points, not final looks. Apply a preset that gets close to your vision, then adjust to suit the specific image. Presets provide useful shortcuts but shouldn’t be applied blindly.

Colour Filters in Digital Black and White

Film photographers used coloured filters over lenses to control how colours converted to tones. Digital conversion lets you apply these filter effects in post-processing without physical filters.

Red filters darken blue skies dramatically, lighten red objects, and lighten skin tones. This creates classic high-contrast landscape looks with dark skies and bright clouds.

Yellow filters provide moderate sky darkening while maintaining relatively neutral rendering of other colours. They’re versatile for general black and white work.

Blue filters lighten skies while darkening warm-toned objects. This less common approach can create interesting inversions of typical black and white rendering.

I simulate filter effects using Lightroom’s colour sliders rather than actual filters. This provides more flexibility and lets me apply different “filter” effects to different parts of the same image through selective adjustments.

Toning and Split-Toning

Pure neutral black and white exists, but slight colour tints often enhance monochrome images. Warm toning (slight brown/sepia) creates vintage or nostalgic feels. Cool toning (slight blue) creates modern or cold moods.

Split-toning applies different colour tints to highlights and shadows separately. Warm highlights with cool shadows creates a sophisticated look that’s more subtle than uniform toning.

I apply very subtle toning—just enough to add character without becoming obvious. Strong toning looks dated and distracting unless you specifically want vintage effects.

When Colour Works Better

Not every image benefits from black and white conversion. Colour itself is sometimes the point—vibrant flowers, sunset colours, cultural events with colourful clothing and decorations.

If colour is crucial to subject identity or emotional impact, keep it in colour. Convert to black and white when colour distracts or when form and tone matter more than hue.

I shoot everything in colour RAW and decide on monochrome conversion in post-processing. This preserves maximum flexibility rather than committing to black and white in camera.

Learning from Masters

Study classic black and white photography—Ansel Adams, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Dorothea Lange, Sebastião Salgado. Notice how they use light, composition, and tonal range. These aren’t just historical references; they demonstrate principles that remain relevant.

Modern black and white photographers are creating exceptional work with digital tools while respecting traditional aesthetics. Follow contemporary monochrome photographers to see how the form evolves.

I regularly review master photographers’ work specifically studying their black and white images. Each viewing teaches something about tonal control, composition, or subject selection that applies to my own work.

The Monochrome Mindset

Black and white photography isn’t just colour photography with saturation removed. It’s a different way of seeing that emphasizes different elements. Develop this vision by shooting with black and white intent—looking for contrast, texture, form, and light rather than colour relationships.

Try shooting exclusively in black and white for a week or month. This immersive approach accelerates learning to visualize monochromatically. You’ll start seeing potential black and white images in colour scenes naturally.

Black and white photography remains powerful precisely because it’s not trying to reproduce reality completely. By removing colour—a fundamental aspect of vision—it becomes interpretation rather than documentation. That interpretive quality is what makes monochrome photography compelling in an era when colour reproduction is trivial.