Toned Images

Image Toning

The category of "toned images" always generates a lot of interest and a lot of interesting images. It is one technique that is not universally understood though, so here are some thoughts I strung together on the subject.

In the late 19th century, the technique of adding pigment (sepia) to the photographic process was developed. The purpose of the toning was to add warmth to the black and white photograph and extend its archival properties. Other chemicals were used such as selenium to accomplish the same goals. Other metallic prints were made using platinum, gold, and copper. So the basic toning process amounted to adding some tint, or tone, to a black and white image. In our modern world of digital photography, we have the ability to add these tones with great flexibility and precision. We now have the luxury of assigning more than one tone to the range of black and white images by splitting that range up into zones. When tints are applied to these zones we can produce the multiple tone versions like duo-tone, tri-tone, and quad-tone images. That's really all there is to this toning concept.

I found a few links to web pages that discuss the subject pretty thoroughly and show some examples of how to make toned images in Photoshop without extra filters or plugins. Hope this helps to clarify the theme concept and give you some ideas!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photographic_print_toning

http://www.photoshopessentials.com/p...ic-toning-cs6/

http://photo.tutsplus.com/tutorials/...-white-toning/

This image is a quad-tone conversion that I made in Photoshop, using Topaz Adjust 5. I first converted the image to b&w using Nik Silver FX Pro, then started with the "Split Tone VI" preset in Adjust, which is actually a blank quad-tone preset waiting for colors and range assignments. I chose the four colors (there is no black) and adjusted them the way I wanted them.

Kerry, thanks so much for the links and explanation. I might "get" it soon:S3:

Kerry, this is very helpful. I also did some searching for techniques for toning an image as I was not really sure. Wonderful that you have posted links. Thanks!

Kerry,

Greetings. Thanks for posting the toning description and links. I've found the 2nd link particularly useful (great gradient tool hidden features.... who knew?). I like in your image how the lines of the subject are echoed in the bg. Noise for effect? Maybe so, seems to work. The toning pulls everything together where I think color may not.

Cheers,

-Michael-

Thanks everyone, I've always thought this was a cool technique and I hope you will enjoy playing with it too!

Michael, thank you - I did add the grain in the b&w step to add to the aged look.

Thanks you Kerry, interesting read.

Love it Kerry. Great tones and I love the bird looking in to the sky.