Getting Toned

In the last post I wrote about curves and how they can be used to “tone” a picture, or change the coloring of a picture.  There are a thousand different ways to do this, so I thought I’d go over a few more.

Here’s the picture I’m going to use before doing anything to it:

USING LEVELS

One way to adjust the colors is by using a Levels Adjustment layer.  Just like the Curves Adjustment layer, you can go into the individual color channels and make changes to them.

Here I went to the blue channel and moved the midpoint to.91 (from 1.00) making the picture more yellow.  I also adjusted the output levels, dragging both sides in a bit (normally they’re at 0 & 255, not 12 & 245).

You can go into each channel and make adjustments ~ I tend to use the blue channel and sometimes the red channel.

(And if you play with the output levels on the default RGB  screen, dragging both ends in it gives the picture that sort of hazy, underexposed look that’s popular).

COLOR FILL ~ EXCLUSION LAYER

Another way to add toning and a bit of an underexposed look is to use a blue color fill adjustment layer, set the mode to exclusion and reduce the opacity:

Go up to Layer, New Fill Layer, Solid Color and choose a nice dark blue.  Then set the layer to Exclusion and reduce the opacity (here it’s at 28%).  If you don’t like how it looks, click on the layer and choose a different blue ~ play around until you find a look you like.

COLOR FILL ~ PIN LIGHT

Another method is to add a Color Fill Adjustment layer (Layer, New Fill Layer, Solid Color), set the mode to Pin Light and take the opacity down:

Here I chose a nice brown and set the opacity to 26%

GRADIENT FILL LAYER

You can also go up to Layer, New Fill Layer, and choose Gradient.  When I do this for toning I tend to choose Radial and I click reverse.  I also play with the size of it:

To change the color of the gradient, you click the Gradient drop down, highlighted in yellow.  Once you do that you get this dialog box:

To change the color you first click on the stop, and then on the color box.  Here I have a dark purple going to transparent.  You can change both stops (so you could have blue going to yellow, or whatever you want).  You can add stops ~ it gets a tad crazy though.  You can also use a preset if you have one you like, or if you’ve saved one from before.

You can then play with the mode and opacity ~ here I’ve set it to Soft Light and 89%.

And here I have two fill layers.  You can see the settings for the bottom layer ~ the top layer is set to Soft Light and 52%

….

So there you have a few examples of different ways to add toning to your pictures.  You really do need to experiment and figure out what works best for you, or for the individual picture.  And don’t be afraid!  If you mess up just delete the adjustment layer and start over!

(Here’s my finished version)