Split Toning
Note: Roll your mouse cursor over the effects names above to see the indicated PhotoKit Color effect.
Photograph: © Jeff Schewe

Split Toning effects
Split toning refers to the traditional black and white darkroom techniques that used chemical processes to color a black and white print. By using different combinations of chemicals, one could achieve a split color effect that made the shadow tones one color and the highlights another. The PhotoKit Color 2.0 Split Toning set allows you to replicate these types of effects in Photoshop. These effects will work well on any monochrome photographs, but the image you are working on must be in RGB mode.

Split Toning layers
When you apply a Split Toning effect, it will create a layer group containing two layers. The lower layer produces the shadow to midtone coloring effect and is set to an opacity of 50%. Increasing or reducing the opacity will produce a stronger or gentler color in the blacks to midtone areas of the image.

The layer above that is a semi-transparent layer (also set to a 50% opacity), that applies a second color to the midtone to highlight areas. By adjusting the opacity of these two layers you can fine-tune the split tone effect as desired.

Working with full color images
Although the Split Toning series were designed to colorize monochrome images in RGB mode, they will also work nicely on full color images as well.

You can experiment with PhotoKit Color 2.0 by applying more than one effect to the same image. After applying each effect click on the layer set eye icon to hide the layers and then choose a different effect. You can achieve many different color combinations by hiding or revealing different layers in the layer stack.

Try rolling the mouse over the two Layer palettes displayed on the right to see what the split toning treatment can do to a full color image.