Duotone Made Simple

wxwaxwxwax Registered Users Posts: 15,471 Major grins
edited January 9, 2005 in Finishing School
I was looking for a Duotone tuorial in the Hall and couldn't find one. So without shame, I'm copying one found for free elsewhere on the web. These are instructions for Photoshop, I'm afraid: not sure how it works with other programs.

1/ Open image.

2/ Click on the Image dropdown menu at the top of your screen, and select Mode/Lab Color (that's the same as colour, Gubbs :evil).

3/ In your Channels dialogue box, click on the Lightness channel. (If you don't already have the Channels box active, go to the Window drop down menu at the top of your screen, and click on Channels. The Channels dialogue box will appear.)

4/ Click on the Image dropdown menu again, and click on Mode/Grayscale - and click OK to discard color information. If you'll notice, your Channels dialogue box now only has one channel - Gray.

5/ On a Mac, hold down the Command key and click on the Gray channel. (For Windows it's the Control key and click on the gray channel.) This loads a selection. No, I don't know what that means. But do it anyway!

6/ On the Select drop down menu at the top of the page, click on Inverse. (Shift-Command-i or Shift-Control-i.)

7/ Back to the Image dropdown menu. This time, click on Mode/RGB Color.

8/ Now go to your Layers palette. Click on the New Adjustment Layer button at the bottom - it's the circle that's half white and half black. On the menu that pops up, click on Solid Color. In Photoshop CS it's the first option.

9/ A color palette will appear. Select the color you wnat to use in your duotone. You'll notice that as you click on a color, it will appear on your image. But it's overwhelming, right? Not to worry, we're about to fix that.

10/ Back to your Layers palette. From the dropdown menu at the top of the palette, change the blending mode to Multiply.

11/ Still too much? Remember, your new color is on it's own adjustment layer. Just use the Opacity sliders on the Layers palette to adjust the intesity of the color.

12/ if you wish, you can now do a Curves Adjustment layer.

13/ If, after all this, you want to try a different color, no problem. In your Layers Palette, double click on the color swatch on the Color Fill layer, and pick a new color.

Easy, huh? A Duotone adds a lot of range and depth to your B&W conversion, well worth checking out.
Sid.
Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam
http://www.mcneel.com/users/jb/foghorn/ill_shut_up.au

Comments

  • DavidTODavidTO Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 19,160 Major grins
    edited January 4, 2005
    Way to go Sid!

    After a 14 hour work day, I'm not about to look it up, but isn't that Gormans' technique that Pathfinder mentioned? If not, it's very similar. Anyway, I love that technique. Turns out beautiful images, with very little guesswork.
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  • wxwaxwxwax Registered Users Posts: 15,471 Major grins
    edited January 4, 2005
    DavidTO wrote:
    Way to go Sid!

    After a 14 hour work day, I'm not about to look it up, but isn't that Gormans' technique that Pathfinder mentioned? If not, it's very similar. Anyway, I love that technique. Turns out beautiful images, with very little guesswork.
    nod.gif Nice detective work! Yep, that's where I got it. It's a lovely technique.
    Sid.
    Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam
    http://www.mcneel.com/users/jb/foghorn/ill_shut_up.au
  • gusgus Registered Users Posts: 16,209 Major grins
    edited January 4, 2005
    Thanks waxedbikiniline....instructions a fence post can follow....


    http://humoungus.smugmug.com/photos/13699613-M.jpg
  • ginger_55ginger_55 Registered Users Posts: 8,416 Major grins
    edited January 4, 2005
    Thanks, Sid, I printed it out. Just what I needed, or wanted anyway.

    I just hope it is jargon made simple. At my age I am starting to forget English, photography is a difficult language to master at any age.

    (I have never been technical. I felt quite superior about it, too. Now it is getting in my way...........I can't understand directions to do things that I want to do, but I can't make myself technical. For some people that seems to be the fun, for me it is the work.)
    After all is said and done, it is the sweet tea.
  • ginger_55ginger_55 Registered Users Posts: 8,416 Major grins
    edited January 4, 2005
    One problem I have is my keyboard never functions well, except maybe the first month. I don't use it for shortcuts. On my keyboard nothing is a shortcut. I can type, but that is about all it wants me to do.

    Then when Kelby, or someone, says to hit Ctrl..........something, it doesn't usually work. If I know what the goal is, I do it on the PS board, but if I don't know how already that is often where I just have to give up. There is nothing like sitting there hitting a key or so, nothing happening, when I am in the middle of learning something I NEED at that moment.

    Does anyone else have a keyboard problem?

    Anyway, if one is giving me instructions in anything, please do not tell me to hit something on the keyboard. The only thing that works is Ctrl J , that works fine, nothing else does anything.

    I think it might have been the V that stopped me the other day. Had to give up.

    g
    After all is said and done, it is the sweet tea.
  • DavidTODavidTO Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 19,160 Major grins
    edited January 4, 2005
    wxwax wrote:
    nod.gif Nice detective work! Yep, that's where I got it. It's a lovely technique.

    What I did was to create an action that does all the steps up to selecting a color. So I hit the keyboard equivalent for the action, select the color, choose multiply, and adjust curves, if necessary. Cuts it down to 4 steps for me.
    Moderator Emeritus
    Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
  • wxwaxwxwax Registered Users Posts: 15,471 Major grins
    edited January 9, 2005
    DavidTO wrote:
    What I did was to create an action that does all the steps up to selecting a color. So I hit the keyboard equivalent for the action, select the color, choose multiply, and adjust curves, if necessary. Cuts it down to 4 steps for me.
    That's a great idea. I should create more Actions.
    Sid.
    Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam
    http://www.mcneel.com/users/jb/foghorn/ill_shut_up.au
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