You have two choices to create black and white photos on iPhone. You can either take photos in black and white in the first place, or take photos in color and then convert them into black and white afterwards. Check out details below.
Note that it’s not possible to shoot videos in Black & White using the default Camera app on iPhone. Although you can’t film it that way but you can easily apply the B&W filter in iMovie which should already be installed on your iPhone by default. Other than that, you can always download and use camera apps from Apple App Store to shoot and/or convert black and white videos.
3 Black & White filters that come with iOS 15
With iOS 15.6.1 we can find three different Black & White filters as follows:
- Mono makes the image a simple black and white.
- Silvertone makes the picture black and white, while also bumping up the shadows
- Noir makes the pictures black and white, while dramatically increasing the contrast
Method 1. Take black and white photos on iPhone
By selecting visual effects, you can quickly create B&W pictures on iPhone. Run the stock Camera app on your device, tap the Filters & Effects(three interlocked circles icon) at the top right corner, then swipe left on the effects bar which is located above the Shutter icon to choose an effect, such as Mono, Noir, Silvertone, after that point your camera and shoot to take black and white photos directly. This is the easiest way to create black and white pictures on iPhone.
Method 2. Convert color photos to black and white through filters
We recommend you take photos in color, then convert them into B&W on iPhone. By doing so, you will have both a color version and a B&W of the photos in your Camera Roll. Although it requires the extra step of removing the color in post-processing.
Launch the stock Photos app on iPhone, select the image you like to edit. Press the Edit button at the top right corner, tap on Effects button at the bottom of your iPhone screen, then browse through the effects to preview and apply. You can choose effects like Mono, Noir, Silvertone to turn the photo from color to greyscale. See below screenshot.
Method 3. Making black and white photos by editing saturation
Recent iOS and iPhone models also have more advanced settings and parameters for skilled users who like to make their photos black and white. Again open the Photos app on iPhone, select Edit, then touch the clock icon with dotted circle around, you will then find the settings to adjust photo exposure, brilliance, highlights, shadows, contrast, brightness, black point, saturation, vibrancy, and so on. You can choose Saturation, then swipe right to reduce down its value to make your photos gray.
Method 4. How to make selective Black and White images on iPhone?
Is it possible to do selective coloring or select areas or parts of a photo and turn them into black and white on iPhone? Check out this guide to make picture background in Black and White on iPhone. By doing so you can make the subject your want to highlight in color but the background in B&W.
Update Nov 2022: updated the black & white photos creating by editing saturation to reflect the changes in iOS 15.