Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
Split toning is a traditional darkroom special effect where you apply one tint to
your photo's highlights, and one tint to your photo's shadow areas, and you even
can control the saturation of each tint and the balance between the two for some
interesting effects. Although split-toning effects can be applied to both color and
B&W photos, you probably see it most often applied to a B&W image, so here we'll
start by converting the photo to black and white, then apply the split-tone effect.
Step One:
Start by converting your full-color
image to black and white by clicking
on the HSL/Grayscale icon (the fourth
icon from the left) at the top of the Panel
area and then just turning on the Convert
to Grayscale checkbox at the top of the
panel (see page 154 for one of my favor-
ite methods for converting to black and
white).
Note:
I made some adjustments
in the Basic panel (shown here), before
I turned on the checkbox.
Step Two:
Now, click on the Split Toning icon (the
fifth icon from the left) at the top of the
Panel area. At this point, dragging either
the Highlights or Shadows Hue slider
does absolutely nothing because, by
default, the Saturation sliders are set
to 0. So, do yourself a favor and drag
the Highlights Saturation slider over to
around 25, so at least you can see what
it looks like while you're dragging the
Hue slider. As soon as you do this, you'll
see the default tint color for Hue (which
is kind of pinkish).
TIP: Seeing Your Colors
To temporarily see your hues at their full
100% saturation, just press-and-hold the
Option (PC: Alt) key, then click-and-drag
a Hue slider. It helps when picking your
colors, if you don't feel like taking my
advice and increasing the saturation (like
I mentioned at the end of Step Two).
