These Photoshop actions have been designed to improve the contrast, texture, and detail of your photos, creating various effects and styles. Whether you want to add black and white drama, depth, or simplicity to your images, this collection has what you’re looking for.

From simple conversions to advanced effects, these actions are easy to use and deliver quick results. Dive into this collection and start transforming your photos. With just a few clicks, you can achieve stunning black and white results.

You might also like our collection of Lightroom presets for black & white photography.

Monochromatic Photoshop Presets

Another option to consider is this set of monochromatic Photoshop presets. These actions allow you to adjust shape, form, tonal contrast, and texture. This set includes 20 Photoshop actions that can be used for all types of black and white photos, including matte, high contrast, low contrast, aged effects, and more.

Carbonium Black & White Photoshop Actions

Carbonium is a set of Photoshop actions with 16 different black and white presets. These effects are non-destructive and leave your original photos intact, allowing you to experiment and customize your photos with various black and white effects, including vintage and modern styles.

Film Noir B&W Photoshop Actions

Give your photos an undeniably moody aesthetic with the Film Noir Photoshop actions. They’re ideal for portraits, fine art shots, and candid photography as they add an analog quality to your digital photography.

B&W Elegance Photoshop Action

Here’s another fantastic set of black and white Photoshop actions. The B&W Elegance Action set lets you attain professional-looking results without destroying your original image. The final results are stark, high-contrast, and impactful.

Black & White Photoshop Actions

This set of black and white Photoshop actions includes 31 different presets and effects that help you achieve the perfect black and white photo, regardless of the original lighting, contrast, etc.

Black & White Professional Photoshop Actions

This black and white Photoshop action collection includes 27 effects to quickly transform your photos. These actions have been designed to give your photo an analog film aesthetic, and can be combined to create unique results.

Selective Color Photoshop Action

The Selective Color Photoshop action is different from the others in this collection. It allows you to turn your photos black and white while preserving a select area’s color. This is perfect for adding drama and interest to your black and white photos.

Silver B&W Film Emulation Photoshop Actions

The Silver B&W Film Emulation Photoshop action set includes 28 different presets, 15 contrast effects, and eight film grains. It can turn your photos black and white and give them a natural grain texture that will add the depth of traditional film to your photos.

Monochromatic Photoshop Actions

This Photoshop action set includes 20 monochromatic presets. With just one click, these actions will help you amplify lighting, contrast, texture, and tone in your photographs.

Charcoal Effect Photoshop Action

This Charcoal Effect Photoshop Action set gives your photos a filtered, vintage aesthetic. The actions add a charcoal-tone black to images, and with the three additional actions, you can increase blurriness or aging.

Sepia Collection Lightroom Presets

The last option in our collection is this sepia action pack. It includes 15 actions that allow you to add a sepia tone to your photos for a vintage or dramatic effect.

How to Install Photoshop Actions

1. Download and unzip the action file
2. Launch Photoshop
3. Go to Window > Actions
4. Select Load Actions from the menu and go to the folder where you saved the unzipped action file to select it
5. The Action will now be installed
6. To use the newly installed action, locate it in the Action panel
7. Click the triangle to the left of the action name to see the list of available actions
8. Click the action you want to play and press the play button at the bottom of the Actions panel

Striking Black & White Photo Effects

Whether capturing the elegance of a portrait, the contrast of a cityscape, or the details of a still life, these black and white Photoshop actions will help.

These ready-made adjustments can be applied quickly. They allow control over contrast, brightness, and tonal range to create striking images and offer a powerful way to explore the artistry of photography.

The post 12 Best Photoshop Actions for Black & White Photo Effects in 2025 appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

For example, taking a black and white photograph and adding partial color effects to certain key points of the shot is one of the most popular techniques amongst professional photographers.

This technique allows you to transform dull and boring black and white images into mesmerizing works of art with just a hint of color. Take a look at the examples featured below and you will begin to understand why this partial color effect is so popular.

Take for example the Yellow City image. A normally busy intersection takes on a whole different meaning when all you immediately see is the taxi cabs. It can also highlight the passage of time and it does a great job of drawing our attention to the most important part of the photo, without it feeling like it is being drowned in the noise of the surrounding color. It can make the ordinary seem extraordinary. It can make us feel something more powerfully.

So without further ado, take a look at some of the best examples of black and white photos that use a splash of color. Use them as an inspiration and don’t forget to check out the related tutorials to help you recreate those effects in your own photos.

Gallery of B&W Photos with Color Effects

Tutorials & Resources

• Black and White with a Splash of Colour (Photoshop Tutorial)
• Mono, with a Dash of Colour (Photoshop Tutorial)
• Black and White… with the occasional splash of colour (Beautiful Examples)

The post 40 Black & White Photos with Partial Color Effects appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

The Ultimate Contrast

Black is the darkest color possible. White is the lightest. Combining them, whether it’s black text on a white background or white text on black, instantly creates the deepest contrast you can ever achieve. Contrast is a known eye-catcher – it’s bold, dramatic and makes edges look crisp and sharp. No colors can exhibit the high-contrast sharp look as well as black and white.

The benefits of black-and-white typography include:

• High contrast
• Sharp edges
• Versatility
• Dramatic look

Image Source: Craig Ward

Two Colors and Everything in Between

Unlike any given combination of two colors, black and white can literally be used to convey any subject. Graphic design-wise, the term “black and white” includes all possible combinations of the two colors, which means that you also have access to the entire spectrum of grays as well.

This presents a wide variety of options you can use for design, including:

• Smooth shading for three-dimensional type
• Gradients
• Complex textures, such as bumps or spikes
• Photo-realistic materials (ice, feathers, glass, smoke and so on) from which to make type
• Detailed patterns
• Interesting light and shadows as if the type were a real object

Image Source: Mrtyn on Deviantart

Image Source: Tpography Tree by Fikriye

Image Source: American Graphic Design 66 by Alki1

Two Tone Design

Despite the options that gray shading offers, sticking to pure black and white is often the route that designers take. This preserves that striking light-dark contrast while at the same time creating a certain look.

Depending on the type and the presentation, a designer can use black and white to convey the sketchiness of hand drawn art, the shininess and wrinkly texture of leather and more.

A limited palette shouldn’t limit your creativity – here are just some of the possibilities for pure black and white typography:

• Black text with thin white stroke on a white background
• White text on a white background with thick black negative space to show letter forms
• White text with black stroke on white background
• Black text with white lines to show contour on white background

Image Source: Inject Knowledge Question Mark by CHIN2OFF

Image Source: Swiss Student Graphic Design by Alki1

Image Source: Swiss Student Graphic Design by Alki1

Affordable Printing

Another advantage of black and white typography is that it costs less to print. While other two-color designs take two different kinds of ink, black and white requires only one – black – if you print it on white paper.

Unless you’re careful, shades of gray sometimes give the impression that your printed media is in black and white to save on printing costs. Pure black and white can actually look more expensive due to its elegance, even though it isn’t.

In Conclusion

Black and white typography may be the oldest type in existence, but it’s far from boring and out-dated. In fact, it holds its own against color typography even now.

If you want designs with focus on form, texture and creativity rather than flashy colors or special effects, black and white is the way to go.

The post A Quick Look into Black & White Typography appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.