AboveThehighlightandshadowareasin theoriginalshotareideal
fo r a subtlesplit-toningeffectbasedon theirluminancevalues.104 PRACTICALPHOTOGRAPHY
1
Openyourshotand
boostcontrast
GotoFile>Openandchoose
th e landscapeshotyou’dliketo give
a sp lit-tonedeffect.Withtheimageload
in Photoshop,thefirsttaskis to ensurethereis a
goodlevelof contrast.TheBlendIf techniqueworksby hiding
partsof theimagebasedon theluminanceof thelayerbelowit,
sodefinedblacksandwhiteswill helpcreatea moredramatic
ef fect.To addcontrast,in theLayerspalette(Window>Layers)
goto Createnewfill or adjustmentlayerandchooseLevelsfrom
th e list.In thepanelthatappears,underthehistogram,dragthe
darkerleft-handarrowto therightto a valueof 10, andthelighter
ri ght-handarrowto theleftto 245.If thesevalueshavecreated
ex cessivepurewhiteor blackareasin yourimage,lowerthevalues
fo r eachto a moreappropriatelevelforyourscene.ClickOK.2
Setthetoneswith
SolidColorLayers
Again, click on the Create newfill or
adjustment layer icon and choose SolidColorfrom
th e list. In the Color Picker dialogue boxthatappears,thefirst
colour you choose will be for the highlights.Clickanddrag
on the vertical colour bar to select a hue,thenclickin thecolour
box to pick the first split-toning colour. Click OK when you’ve
made the selection.
Back in the Layers
palette, set the
Blending Mode to
Soft Light and lower
th e Opacity to 30%.
Now repeat this
pr ocess to selectthe
se cond split-tone
colour, to be used
fo r the shadows.KirkSchwarzexplains whyPhotoshop’sBlend If functionis a great wayto apply a precise
split-toningeffectto highlightsand shadows.Use split-toning to
boost a landscape
S
PLIT-TONINGIS ATECHNIQUETHAT
appliesdifferentcoloursto an imagebased
ontheluminancevaluesof tonesin thescene.
It ’s a greatwayto injectcolourtheoryintoyourshots,and
vi brancy to a scene. While Lightroom and Adobe Camera
Raw both have a dedicated tool for split-toning, they are
destructive, meaning they make permanent changes to
the image file and you won’t be able to easily adjust the
colours or lessen the effect later in the edit. Using Blend If
in Photoshop is non-destructive, and lets you define your
own luminance range with precision. It works by hiding the
la yer it’s applied to from the underlying layers, based on the
brightness. You can set this with a simple slider system to
achieve powerful results with minimal effort. The technique
then allows you to change the toning colours at any point.WHAT
YOUNEED
nPhotoshopCC
nA landscapeshotthat
wouldbenefitfrom
anextralayerof
colourdepth