Create a Stunning Black and White Photo Outside of Photoshop

Everybody knows you can create a truly unique black and white photo in Photoshop. However not a whole lot of people know that you can create virtually the same image before the image is ever even opened in Photoshop. All the tools are right there in the RAW viewer.


Select a RAW file that was shot with your camera and open it so that Photoshop brings up the RAW viewer. The area outlined in red in the above shot is the area we'll be concerned with here. Select the appropriate white balance if necessary and adjust any primary settings such as exposure and brightness, and then look for the HSL/Grayscale button, which is fourth from the left underneath the histogram and EXIF data. This will allow you to convert the entire image to a grayscale image right there by checking Convert to Grayscale. You can control all values of colors, even more so than Photoshop gives you in the Black and White adjustment layer.

This gives you ultimate control over your image in the conversion process. The histogram is also right above to make sure your image is consistently properly exposed.

Want to add a little color to it to make it a duotone or tritone? On the button bar, go to the next one over to the right where you can add a bit of color to your highlights and shadows. Something subtle typically works best here, if you choose to use them.