Affinity Designer is one of the best software available for editing images. Still, even some of its most basic functions can be tricky without a guide because of the vast number of tools Affinity offers. What if you just want to make an image black and white but you can’t figure out how? What can you do?

To make an image black and white in Affinity Designer you simply need to click the adjustments icon and select black and white. It’s a good idea to also make and hide a duplicate layer of the image before you change it just in case you need to revert back quickly.  

If you’re trying to make an image black and white in Affinity Designer but you’re not sure where to start, this is for you. In our guide below we will lay out step-by-step how you can grayscale an image in Affinity Designer. Additionally, we’ll break down some of the basics on how you can perfect the shading in your image. So, without further ado, let’s dive right into it! 

How Do I Grayscale an Image in Affinity Designer?

Changing an image to black and white in Affinity Designer is simple, though it can be difficult to figure out because of how many tools the program offers. 

Follow the steps below to change an image to black and white in Affinity Designer:

1. Open an image in Affinity Designer: First things first, you need to open the program and import an image as a layer. 
2. Duplicate your image layer: This step isn’t absolutely necessary but it’s a good idea to do just in case if you don’t like the changes you make to your image and want to revert back to the original easily. Simply right click your image layer and select “duplicate layer” from the dropdown menu. 
3. Hide your backup layer: Now you’ll just want to click and hide the backup layer you created. When you’re satisfied with the changes you make to the image you can simply delete this layer. 
4. Go to “adjustments” and select black and white: From here you simply need to select the layer for the image you want to change, then click the adjustments icon beneath it and select black and white. 

This process will simply make an image go from color to a basic black and white. If you want to further adjust the shading of the black and white coloring then jump to our next section where we will go over how to do just that. 

How Do I Adjust a Black and White Image in Affinity Designer?

Now that you’ve got a black and white image, it’s time to perfect it. By perfect it, we mean get the right contrast of dark and light shading on the image itself. So, how exactly do you adjust a black and white image in Affinity Designer?

Below we’ve outlined the basic steps you can take to adjust the black and white in your image to your preferences: 

1. First change the image to black and white: First things first, follow the steps in our previous section to change the image to black and white. For a short refresher, this simply means you need to select the layer, click on the adjustments icon beneath it and select black and white. 
2. Adjust the color shading: After you change the image to black and white a window should pop up with various color spectrums you can adjust. You can experiment with adjusting these until you get the kind of shading you really want. As a general rule of thumb, the warm colors (red and yellow) affect things like flesh tone.
3. Close out the color window, select adjustments and levels: Now you can simply close out the color menu, select the adjustments again only this time go to the top of the dropdown menu and click levels. 
4. Adjust the levels in your image: It’s time to experiment again. From here you can mess around with the levels of black, white and neutral tones. You can drag a point on each spectrum until it looks the way you want it to look. 

While we can’t tell you exactly what will work for your project–because every project is different–these are the tools you’ll need to really get the best black and white image possible. 

So Really, How Do You Make an Image Black and White in Affinity Designer?

To review, if you want to make an image black and white in Affinity Designer, you simply need to select the layer, click the adjustments icon beneath it and select “black and white.” 

If you want to optimize the black and white in your image you should also make adjustments on both the color scale and the levels. These can also be found under adjustments. Now the only thing left is for you to experiment and figure out what works best for your project!