|
The art of toning photographs is almost as old as photography itself. In the
darkroom, a toner replaces the black in black-and-white prints. The colors that
are available include sepia (brown), selenium (purple-brown), and a handful
of others. This technique can also be accomplished in Photoshop, with an endless
number of color tones—quickly, easily, and without toxic chemicals.
Converting to B/W
The procedure in Photoshop is simple. If you begin with a color image, it must
be converted to black-and-white by discarding the color information. This is
done with Image > Mode > Grayscale. When asked if you want to discard
the color information, click OK. Next, go to Image > Mode > Duotone, and
you are now ready to tone the black-and-white image.
Selecting the Tone
In the dialog box that opens, use the submenu at the upper left corner to create
a duotone, tritone, or quadtone. This picture is a duotone, and you can see
(photo: SC-162) that the tones come from black and red. You can choose the color
tone by simply clicking in the right hand box next to ‘Ink 2.’ This
opens the Pantone color chart, which I suggest you bypass by choosing the button
in the dialog box that says ‘Picker.’ This opens the familiar Photoshop
color picker, and it is here than you will select the tone for your portrait.
Choosing the Color
Any color tone you can imagine is available, unlike the limited number of toners
available in the darkroom. Here, I produced a duotone of blue and black. Note
that the bright blue tone I chose (photo SC-163) is different than the dark
blue coloration you see in this portrait. This is because the blue mixed with
black produces the deep, rich blue-black image.
|
