Black and white in Lightroom: a step-by-step edit (2026)

Step 1: Convert and choose a profile

The conversion takes one click, and the profile you pick next does more than any slider. In Lightroom Classic, open the Develop module and choose Black & White in the Treatment area at the top of the Basic panel, or press V. In Lightroom (the cloud version), click B&W at the top of the Edit panel.

Lightroom applies the Adobe Monochrome profile by default for raw files. Adobe introduced it in April 2018 as a better starting point than converting from Adobe Standard. Julieanne Kost, Adobe’s principal evangelist, describes it as brightening warm colors and darkening cool colors slightly as they turn gray, with a little added contrast.

Then open the Profile Browser and look at the B&W group. Kost notes that some of these profiles raise or lower contrast, some limit dynamic range, and several imitate the colored filters film photographers used. Andrew S. Gibson, writing at Mastering Lightroom, counts 22 B&W profiles in Lightroom Classic. Hover to preview, click to apply, and use the Amount slider to weaken or strengthen the creative profile.

There’s also an Adaptive B&W profile. Adobe made Adaptive Profiles generally available in color and black and white across Lightroom, Lightroom Classic, mobile and web in February 2025. An AI model adjusts tone and color for your specific photo while leaving the sliders at neutral.

Step 2: Set contrast, then shape gray tones in the B&W Mixer

Get the overall tones right before you touch individual colors. Use Exposure, Contrast, Highlights, Shadows, Whites and Blacks the same way you would in color. Black and white usually benefits from more contrast than you’d use in color, and Digital Photography School suggests trying more Clarity on architecture and street scenes while keeping it off portraits.

Expect to adjust tone again after conversion. Colors that looked distinct can turn into the same mid-gray, so a photo that was well exposed in color may look flat until you add contrast.

The B&W Mixer is where a conversion goes from acceptable to good. It controls how bright each original color becomes once it’s gray. In Lightroom Classic, the Color Mixer panel switches to B&W automatically once the treatment is Black & White. In Lightroom (cloud), it’s renamed B&W Mixer.

In Classic, click Auto to let Lightroom set a starting mix for the photo. Then adjust. Dragging the Blue slider left darkens a blue sky and makes white clouds stand out. Dragging Orange right brightens skin and anything rust-colored.

The Targeted Adjustment Tool is more accurate than the sliders. Select it, click on an area of the photo and drag up to lighten or down to darken. Lightroom moves every slider that matches the colors under the cursor. In Classic the shortcut is Command + Option + Shift + G on a Mac, or Control + Alt + Shift + G on Windows.

Keep the moves modest. Gibson’s rule of thumb is to zoom to 100% and check for odd tones whenever a slider goes past +30 or -30.

Step 3: Use masks to guide the eye

Local adjustments are where black and white photos get their depth. Without color, brightness and contrast are what lead the viewer through the frame, so darken what distracts and lighten what matters.

In Lightroom Classic, open the Masks panel. Select Sky gives you a sky mask in one click, and inverting it selects everything else. Gibson’s example inverts a sky mask on a photo of an old train, then pushes Clarity to +97 on the rusted metal only. He notes black and white can take more Clarity than color, though that’s a matter of taste.

Brush and gradient masks work like a darkroom print’s dodging and burning. Darken the edges slightly, lift a face or a doorway, and add Texture or Clarity where you want detail to show.

Step 4: Add grain and toning last

Grain is a finishing touch, so apply it after everything else. It lives with the Effects controls and has three sliders: Amount, Size and Roughness. Size starts at 25 once you add grain. Larger grain hides fine detail, so check the photo at 100% and at the size people will see it.

Grain look	Amount	Size	Roughness
Moderate, visible texture	+40	25 (default)	Default
Strong film look for B&W	+50	+71	+50
Soft, clumpy grain	+30	+66	0
Fine, sharp grain	+60	+18	+80

These are the example settings Adam Welch used for Digital Photography School. Start there, then lower Amount until the grain supports the photo instead of covering it. Since Lightroom Classic 12.4 in June 2023, grain can also be adjusted locally with a mask, so you can keep grain off a face while leaving it in the background.

For a sepia or split tone, use Color Grading after the conversion. Kost points to Color Grading as the way to add color back to a black and white image.

Lightroom Classic vs Lightroom (cloud)

The tools are the same; the names and places differ. If you follow a tutorial written for the other app, this is the map.

Task	Lightroom Classic	Lightroom (cloud)
Convert	Basic panel > Treatment: Black & White, or press V	B&W button at the top of the Edit panel
Gray-tone sliders	Color Mixer panel, switched to B&W	B&W Mixer
Copy the look to other photos	Copy Settings dialog: tick Treatment & Profile and any other panels	Copy and paste copies all adjustments
Local adjustments	Masks panel	Masking

To batch-convert a shoot, edit one photo, copy its settings, select the rest and paste. In Classic, untick panels you don’t want copied, such as exposure, when lighting varies between frames.

For more on setting up Classic, see our Lightroom Classic workflow for beginners.

Common mistakes that flatten a conversion

Most bad black and white edits come from a handful of mistakes.

Using a camera-matching monochrome profile and then wondering why the mixer is gone. Kost explains that Camera Matching monochrome profiles discard the color information, so the B&W Mix sliders aren’t available. Use Adobe Monochrome or a B&W creative profile if you want to mix.
Editing the JPEG instead of the raw file. Raw profiles can’t be applied to JPEGs, and Digital Photography School notes that mixer artifacts and halos are a bigger problem with JPEGs.
Pushing mixer sliders to the extremes. Big swings cause blotchy tones and halos at edges. Check at 100% past ±30.
Leaving old photos on an old process version. Lightroom’s Process Version 6, released in June 2023, aimed to reduce banding. Photos on PV3 to PV5 update to it automatically when you edit them again; the Lightroom Queen calls the change small, so there’s no need to update old photos in bulk.
Relying on a preset without adjusting it. A preset is one person’s settings for one photo. Use it as a start, then set exposure and the mixer for your image.

What to do next

Pick one raw photo with strong light and clear shapes, and convert it with the B&W button.
Try five B&W profiles, keep the best, and adjust its Amount.
Set contrast, then use the Targeted Adjustment Tool on the sky and the main subject.
Add one mask to darken distractions, then add grain last and check it at 100%.
Save the result as a preset so your next conversion starts from your own look.

If you’d rather start from someone else’s look, our guide to where to get Lightroom presets covers Adobe’s built-in Black & White presets and free community ones.

How do you edit black and white photos in Lightroom?