Image toning with Gradient Map
- 11 Dec 09
One of the easiest, yet effective ways to tone a photograph is to use Gradient Map adjustment layer. The technique is very straightforward: add Gradient Map adjustment layer and play with the colors and sliders.
One of the advantages of this method is you get instant visual feedback of the changes before you apply them, whether you change colors or opacity. You still have the flexibility to combine the Gradient Map adjustment layer with different Blending modes and/or Blend If settings.
Gradient Map adjustment layer can be used give the photo black-and-white treatment, to simulate duotones as well as basic split-toning effects. Play with the sliders, change the Smoothness setting, change the opacity of the stops, change the color, add stops, remove stops, move the color midpoint. The possibilities are endless and best of all, this technique is non-destructive and can be fine-tuned any time.
Background layer duplicates
- 11 Dec 09
I often see suggestions to duplicate background layer and change the blending mode of the duplicate layer to achieve certain effect. For example it is often recommended to set the duplicate later to blending mode Soft Light and lower opacity to boost color saturation and contrast.
One problem associated with this method is the fact that every duplicate layer take space in the resulting file size. The other problem with this approach is that the steps performed on one image need to be re-applied to the other images in the batch.
There is a simple solution to those problems. Instead of duplicating the (background) layer, simply add one of the adjustment layers, such as Curves, Levels, Hue/Saturation and some others and set the newly added adjustment layer to the required blending mode and opacity. The result will be exactly the same. This technique does not add almost anything to the resulting file size. The adjustment layer can simply be dragged to the another image, effectivly copying the settings.
The advantage of using adjustment layers is even more apparent when the background layer must be diplicated several times and set to diffrent (or the same) blending modes and opacity.