PaintStudio

Make a photo black and white

Your photo turns black and white the moment it opens. Keep it, try a punchier Noir or a warm Sepia, and fine-tune the contrast before you download.

Drop an image here

or paste it from the clipboard · PNG, JPG, WebP, HEIC, PSD…

How it works

  1. Drop your photo — it is converted to grayscale right away.
  2. Try Noir or Sepia in the task bar, or click Undo to go back.
  3. Fine-tune the contrast if you like, then click Export.

Grayscale, Noir or Sepia

Grayscale is a faithful conversion that keeps the full range of tones — a good start for portraits and documents. Noir is high-contrast black and white with deeper shadows and brighter highlights, suited to street photography, architecture and moody shots. Sepia gives the warm brown tone of old prints and works well for family photos and vintage looks. Each one is a single undo step, so comparing them is quick. All three are also in the Filters panel, next to Duotone for a two-color variation.

Fine-tuning the black-and-white look

A black-and-white conversion often looks flat, because colors that differed in hue end up as similar grays. Fix that with contrast: open Curves… and drag a gentle S-shape, lowering the shadows and raising the highlights, or use Levels… and move the black and white points inward until the histogram fills the range. The Contrast and Clarity sliders in the Adjust panel are a quicker option. A little Grain or Vignette gives the image a film-like feel.

Color splash: keep one color

To leave one object in color — a red umbrella, a bouquet, a pair of eyes — click Undo first to bring the color photo back. Select the object with the Lasso or Magic wand, choose Invert selection in the Edit menu, then apply Grayscale from the Filters panel. Only the selected area changes, so the object keeps its color while everything around it turns gray. A small Feather value on the selection tool makes the transition look natural.

Frequently asked questions

Can I get the color back after converting?

Yes, while the photo is open: click Undo in the task bar or press Ctrl/⌘+Z, because the conversion is a single undo step. The exported file is black and white, but the original photo on your device stays in color.

What is the difference between grayscale and black and white?

In everyday use they mean the same: a photo without color. Strictly speaking, grayscale contains all the shades between black and white, while pure black and white has only two tones. For that stark two-tone look, use the Threshold filter in the Filters panel.

Should I save a black-and-white photo as JPG or PNG?

Use JPEG for photographs; the file stays small and prints well. Choose PNG only if the image is a scan of text, a drawing or line art, where perfectly crisp edges matter more than file size.

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