It’s been decades since color finally entered the world of photography, leaving behind the two-tone restriction of black and white images. So why is the old-fashioned black and white still so popular?

While we do love color, there’s a certain elegance to black and white that keeps us coming back. Black and white images show a very different view, as they change images to only shades of light and dark—black, white and all the tones of gray that lay between. The variety of shades of gray that come together in one image is truly what make this “black and white” striking.

The depth of this tone creates a fabulous look that’s perfect for scrapbooking—whether you’re looking to make an impact with a particular photo through it’s contrast or to create a heritage or vintage old-fashioned appeal, it’s a great way to create a unique look on an album page.

How do you get that look without necessarily shooting your photos on black and white film or in a black and white mode on your digital? It’s simple and can be done either through your local photo lab or quickly and easily on your very own home computer!

The Simple Conversion
At home you can, of course scan your image in or download it from your digital camera onto your computer. If you’re scanning, you can actually do the conversion by simply selecting “Grayscale” in the mode section of the control window prior to pressing “scan”. This will allow your scanner to automatically convert the colors of the photo to the proper gray tones.

For digital images, open up the photo in your photo editing software and save the image under a different name—you won’t be able to recover the color data once you discard it. Select the “Image” menu, then “Mode”. Select “Grayscale” as your mode and confirm that you want to discard color information. Your photo will easily chance from a color image to a black and white. For more dramatic effects, you may want to adjust the levels or brightness and contrast.