Convert Multiple Images to Black & White in Lightroom Classic

Hey, it’s Erika again! 👋

I’ve invented a new term: Weather Whiplash

That’s how I would describe the weather this month in Tennessee.

One day it’s cloudy, windy and cold with spits of snow in the air. (Nothing that sticks, tho.) Next it’s a nice, sunny day that’s very comfortable. Barely even “sweater weather.”

I put the air conditioner on in the afternoon because it’s too hot inside. But do I need to put the heat on before going to bed since it will be below freezing overnight?

I don’t want to be the one responsible for our pipes freezing in our building. It’s too much pressure!🥶

So how’s the weather with you?

Well, I can’t fix the weather but I can share a super-cool photo editing trick with you that will speed up your editing time for black & white images.

Are you still converting your images to B&W one image at a time? Well, you can convert a bunch at the same time! Let me show you how…

One of my favorite things to do when editing in Lightroom is to apply settings in bulk when I can. Here’s one that you can do the next time you have a bunch of photos you want to change to black & white. You can do it in mere seconds all at once!

Step 1:

In Lightroom Classic, go to your Library Grid. Go over to the Quick Develop in the right-hand panel. (It’s right under the histogram.) Make sure the arrow is pointed down for Quick Develop and for Saved Preset under that.

Step 2:

Next, select all the images you want to change to black and white.

Step 3:

Finally, go to the Treatment pulldown in the Saved Preset section of the Quick Develop. Choose Black & White.

Give Lightroom a few seconds to start applying the change. You'll see the images pop over to black & white. It’s pretty cool!

That was fun, right? Try it the next time you’re in Lightroom. 🙌

Happy editing,

Erika

P.S. My hubby informs me that I did not invent “weather whiplash.” Apparently it has been used in the weather before. Oh, well. It's still crazy weather!🤷🏻‍♀️