Toning black & white so that it is pretty ...

[roger_ele]

A quick easy way to tone black & white that is pretty plus a cross toning technique. Done in Photoshop 7, but should apply to most programs and versions. [details]

[Ed_L]

Good tutorial Roger. You're right -- you have a lot more control this way. Thanks for sharing.

Ed

[Vikki]

Very nice. Something new to play around with!

[Leah]

Very interesting, Roger. How does this compare with using the duotone/tritone/quadtone modes in PS (I've been playing around with those recently)?

[BigAl]

Thanks for sharing Roger. It set me thinking, and a really rough (but workable) method with PSP8 was to use layers with their blend mode set to color, filled with the color and then fiddle with the opacity sliders to get the right effect. Setting the blend mode to soft light also gives a very pleasing effect.

[Leah]

How to do (approximately) this technique in PaintShop Pro (Make sure Colors set to maximum value):

1. Layers -> New Raster Layer (Name: Tone1; Blend mode: Color)
2. Fill Tone1 layer with colour of choice (e.g. R110 G81 B39).
3. With Tone1 layer activated, Masks -> New -> From Image (Source window: This window; Create mask from: Source luminance; Invert mask data: checked)

To add an additional cross-toning layer:
4. Activate Background layer
5. Layers -> New Raster Layer (Name: Tone2; Blend mode: Color)
6. Fill Tone2 layer with colour of choice (e.g. R150 G150 B180).
With Tone2 layer activated, Masks -> New -> From Image (Source window: This window; Create mask from: Source luminance; Invert mask data: unchecked)

Play around with opacity sliders on the Color layer(s) to adjust the effect.

Attached images show (a) image with a single unmasked color layer (b) toned image using inverted luminosity as a mask (c) cross toned image using inverted luminosity as a mask on one layer and luminosity as a mask on the other.

[Flora]

After reading your Tutorial, I've tried your technique on a couple of pictures .... It really looks great ....

Thanks for sharing...

[roger_ele]

Thanks Flora,

This is embarassing, the other day I created a black & white and then found myself pulling up color balance and moving the sliders a little to get a pretty brown. It colored the dark areas without coloring the light areas as much. I havn't tested carfully but it felt the same as masking with luminosity

So many ways so little time ....

I started using the solid color adjustment layer as a quick way to temporarily remove the color stains to see what I was retouching more clearly.

Roger

[Gary Richardson]

Great tutorial Roger, I've got some B&W images to work on, and I shall certainly be trying this technique, nice one.