The term "split toning" means we'll be adding a colour tint to the
highlights using one colour, and then using a different colour to tint
the shadows. The two colours you use can be similar, giving you a subtle
effect, or they can be complete opposites. It's really up to you and
the effect you're going for. Whichever colours you choose, split toning
an image can be a great way to add more visual interest to a black and
white photo.
Step 1 - Add A Channel Mixer Adjustment Layer
The
first thing we need to do with our split toning effect is convert our
image into black and white. There's quite a few ways to convert a colour
photo to black and white in Photoshop, but one of the best ways is by
using a Channel Mixer adjustment layer, which will
allow us to create our own custom black and white version rather than
allowing Photoshop to make all the decisions for us. Since we're using
the adjustment layer version of the Channel Mixer, we can safely convert
our image to black and white while leaving the original full colour
image intact. Click on the New Adjustment Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel and choose Channel Mixer from the list that appears.
Step 2 - Select the "Monochrome" Option
This brings up Photoshop's Channel Mixer dialog box. In the bottom left corner of the dialog box is the Monochrome
option. Click inside its checkbox to select this option. As soon as you
select it, you'll see your image in the document window convert to
black and white.
Step 3 - Create A Custom Black And White Version Of The Image
In
the center of the Channel Mixer dialog box are three sliders, labelled
"Red", "Green" and "Blue" from top to bottom. These sliders represent
the red, green and blue colour channels in the image.
These
three slider bars allow us to create a custom black and white version
of our photo by mixing different amounts of the red, green and blue
colours in the image to give us different results. Dragging the red
slider towards the right, for example, causes any areas with red in them
to appear lighter in the black and white version, while dragging the
slider towards the left causes areas with red in them to appear darker.
The same goes for the green and blue sliders. There are no "correct"
settings for the sliders, since each image is unique and your idea of
the "perfect" black and white version of the image will also be unique,
so the best thing to do is to simply drag the sliders around while
keeping an eye on your photo in the document window until you're happy
with the results.
The only rule to be aware of with the sliders is that the total percentage of all three sliders should equal 100%
when you're done. You'll see an input box above and to the right of
each slider, with a number in the box that changes as you drag the
slider. The number you see is the percentage of that colour that's
currently being applied to the black and white version. When you're done
converting your image to black and white, the total of all three boxes
should equal 100%. Anything less than 100% causes your image to appear
darker than it should be, while going above 100% will lose detail in the
highlights. Fortunately, you don't have to worry about doing the math.
The Channel Mixer conveniently lists the current percent total directly
below the sliders. For my image, I'm going to go with a mixture of 70%
red, 20% green and 10% blue to create my black and white version, which
gives me a total of 100%. Your values will most likely be different
depending on the photo you're working with.
Keep in
mind that we haven't really converted the image to black and white. The
original full colour photo is still there, sitting safely on the
Background layer in the Layers panel. Everything we've done to convert
the photo to black and white is being handled by the Channel Mixer
adjustment layer sitting above it in the Layers panel. If we were to
delete the adjustment layer, our full colour image would appear in the
document window once again.
Step 4 - Add A "Colour Balance" Adjustment Layer
Now
that we've converted our photo to black and white, we're ready to add
some colour to the highlights and shadows. For that, we'll use another
of Photoshop's adjustment layers. Click once again on the New Adjustment Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel and this time; choose Colour Balance from the list.
Step 5 - Select "Highlights" And Choose a Tint Colour
This
brings up Photoshop's Colour Balance dialog box. The Colour Balance
adjustment works great for our split toning effect because it allows us
to easily switch between the shadows and highlights in the image simply
by choosing either the Shadows or Highlights option at the bottom of the
dialog box. Once we've chosen the shadows or highlights, we can use the
colour sliders to select the colour we want to use and it will be
applied only to the shadows or highlights.
Let's start with the highlights in the photo. Select Highlights
at the bottom of the dialog box.With the highlights now selected, use
the colour sliders to dial in the colour you want to tint the highlights
with. The top slider will add red or cyan to the image depending on
which direction you drag the slider. The further you drag the slider,
the more intense the colour will appear in the image. The middle slider
will add green or magenta, again depending on which way you drag the
slider. The bottom slider will add blue or yellow. It helps to know a
little Colour Theory 101 here if you need to mix colours together to
create the one you want, but I'm going to keep things simple.
I'm going to add a bit of yellow to my highlights by dragging the bottom slider towards the left until the third Colour Levels input box at the top of the dialog box shows a value of -15.The highlights have been tinted with a small amount of yellow.
Step 6 - Select "Shadows" And Choose A Tint Colour
We've added a colour to the highlights. Now let's add a different colour to the shadows. Select the Shadows
option at the bottom of the dialog box. With the shadows now selected,
we can dial in a different colour to complete our split toning effect.
Again, I'm going to keep things simple by adding some red to my shadows.
I'll drag the top slider towards the right until the first Colour Levels input box at the top of the dialog box shows a value of +35.
Of
course, the colours you choose for your shadows and highlights may be
completely different from the ones I've chosen here. I just happen to
like this particular effect, with yellow in the highlights and red in
the shadows. Click OK when you're done to exit out of the Colour Balance
dialog box. If we look in our Layers panel, we can see that we now have
three layers. The original, full colour image is on the Background
layer on the bottom, the Channel Mixer adjustment layer directly above
it is what's giving us our black and white effect, and finally, the
Colour Balance adjustment layer at the top is adding our tints to the
shadows and highlights.
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