Gimp: create black and white effects
You don't have to be a professional to create a black and white effect for your pictures with the Gimp photo editor. We'll show you how.
Image processing with Gimp: simple black and white effect
Black and white effects give pictures a special expressiveness. You can actually achieve the stylish effect with just one click. But we also show you how you can achieve a little more expression with it:
- Open the desired picture in Gimp.
- In the "Colors" menu you will find the "Desaturate" function. Here you have three options with which you can determine the gray value. In our example we chose "brightness". Play around with the settings a little until you achieve the desired effect.
- Now the picture appears in black and white. Alternatively, you can simply switch to black and white mode. To do this, select "Grayscale" as the basis in the "Image" -> "Mode" menu.
Refine black and white effects with Gimp
You have already created a black and white effect. However, you can make a few more fine adjustments to achieve more depth:
- After you desaturate the image or change the mode, brighten the light areas and darken the dark areas further. To do this, open the color curves via "Color" -> "Curves". Lower the left half of the curve slightly and slightly raise the right side. Keep trying until you are happy with the result.
- Then brighten the entire image a little in the image processing via "Colors" -> "Brightness / Contrast" and the perfect black and white effect is ready.
If you want to learn more about image processing with Gimp, read how to create motion blur with Gimp.